Tourist authorities forecast post-tsunami rebound

Dermot Davitt

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Authorities insist 2005 estimates can be achieved despite devastation

Tourist authorities in Thailand and Sri Lanka are optimistic that tourism arrivals will hit 2005 forecasts, despite the devastation wreaked by the Asian tsunami of December 26. Thai tourism minister Sontaya Kunplome told reporters that tourist arrivals through Bangkok International airport in the first three days of this year dropped 27% to a daily average of 18,904, compared to 2004.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) estimated that the worst affected areas?Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi?could lose about one-tenth of their annual tourism income of around $3bn in 2005. But an aggressive promotional campaign by TAT could see a return to forecast arrival levels after March, the tourism authority said. It also refused to change its forecast of 13.4m arrivals for the year, despite the loss of over 10,000 hotel rooms that would house tourists. In Sri Lanka, deputy tourism minister Arjuna Ranatunga likewise told Reuters the government hoped to achieve its 2005 target of 600,000 tourists. "The tourists are already coming back and the major problem is to find them accommodation," he said. Sri Lanka lost 2,000 hotel rooms in the December 26 tsunami. The tsunami death toll now stands at 150,000, with Indonesia and Sri Lanka the worst-hit countries. Thailand suffered the most deaths among tourists, at over 2,500.