Thailand moves to lure Asian tourists afraid of ghosts

HONG KONG: -- Faced with a poor response to efforts to lure visitors back to Thailand after December's tsunamI, tourism authorities will launch a campaign aimed at helping Asians overcome a fear of ghosts.

Under the plan, private companies will be given grants totaling 500 million baht (HK$93.5 million) for marketing and advertising focused on luring back Japanese, Chinese and Korean tourists, whose numbers have declined sharply. ''Asian tourists are scared of ghosts and what not, and these are factors that have made our tourist arrivals drop short of our goal,'' said Tourism Minister Somsak Thepsuthin.

Many Asians worry that the ghosts of the disaster victims may be haunting beaches and bungalows. A popular superstition in Chinese societies holds that if bodies are not recovered and properly buried, the spirits restlessly wander the world. Some believe the lost souls try to drag living beings into their spiritual limbo land.

The government is running short of its target to attract 13.3 million visitors to the country in 2005, due mainly to a drop in tourists at the tsunami-hit southern coast.

``We've fallen short of the target for the first half of the year by about 1.9 million tourists,'' Somsak said. ``We have to make an intensive public relations campaign to let tourists know that the tsunami hit only some areas, not the entire country.''

The December 26 tsunami killed nearly 5,400 people in Thailand, about half of them foreign tourists.

In Phuket, the resort most affected by the disaster, only 29,441 tourists arrived during the first half of the year - about 62 percent less than last year, according to the Phuket airport immigration office. Thailand earned tourism revenue of about 400 billion baht last year, or 6 percent of the country's gross domestic product, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Officials have said the country could lose about 30 billion baht in tourism revenue this year.

--AP/Reuters 2005-07-08

Thailand moves to lure Asian tourists afraid of ghosts

 

Many Asians worry that the ghosts of the disaster victims may be haunting beaches and bungalows. A popular superstition in Chinese societies holds that if bodies are not recovered and properly buried, the spirits restlessly wander the world. Some believe the lost souls try to drag living beings into their spiritual limbo land.

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i dont fear ghost ,i've never seen ghost .. ..but i dont want to meet em too ..i went to phuket after tsunami for volunteer..no ghost !! lol

anyhow , i just hope this situation is better .. and they can go some place with attacted by tsunami ..atleast they can support the local people's life

Bambi

I ain't afraid of no ghost. who you gonna call? If you are female and scared of ghosts, I'll take care of you.

Let hope the private companies make good use of the 500 million baht grant, for marketing and advertising focused on luring back Japanese, Chinese and Korean tourists..That's a lot of $$$ just for this purpose.

Why don't they turn such areas into spooky haunted theme parks. Come see the ghosts on the beach. Than get some dude to hang out in the water with a flashlight.

The government is running short of its target to attract 13.3 million visitors to the country in 2005, due mainly to a drop in tourists at the tsunami-hit southern coast.

``We've fallen short of the target for the first half of the year by about 1.9 million tourists,''

In Phuket, the resort most affected by the disaster, only 29,441 tourists arrived during the first half of the year - about 62 percent less than last year, according to the Phuket airport immigration office

13.3m pa , 6.6m / 6mths. Shortfall 1.9m in first 6 mths. thus 4.7m actual tourists in Thailand first half 2005.

Phuket recieved 29 441 1st half 2005, +- 45000 first half 2004? Thought Phuket was the major centre for tourism? Something wrong with these figures?