Asian Tourists Scarce

[Buff-horns]

Asian tourists scarce in Thailand

Pamela Cowan, The Leader-Post

Published: Monday, December 26, 2005

After surviving last December's deadly tsunami, Troy Husum vowed he wouldn't return to Phuket for a long time.

Now living in Bangkok, the Canadian expat returned to Phuket, Thailand in September to the sounds of rebirth.

"There was still a good deal of construction all along the beach front and you heard the sounds of rebuilding pretty much everywhere you went," the 30-year-old wrote in a recent e-mail to the Leader-Post.

However, worries about another devastating tsunami are keeping many tourists from Phuket and Asian tourists are noticeably absent, Husum said.

"Although it was the low season, it was clear to me the tourist island was well below its usual numbers," he said. "I saw very few Asian tourists when I returned including both Thai and Chinese."

Husum confirmed reports that hordes of Asian vacationers are staying away from Phuket because they're afraid the ghosts of thousands of victims may be haunting the beaches.

"I can tell you that 95 per cent of the locals I ask say they believe in ghosts, so it makes sense that they would stay away," he said.

Although many locals lost loved ones and all their belongings, Husum is uplifted by their resilience.

"I am very impressed with how quickly Thailand recovered from the tsunami of 2004 and the speed with which they rebuilt," he said.

"The island right now is experiencing its annual holiday season boom.

I had planned to go back for Christmas as I did last year, but finding a room around the second week of December proved to be quite a challenge. We gave up and opted for another location instead, but this leads me to believe Phuket might make up for a bad year."

Images of death and destruction seared in his memory following the devastating tidal waves that hit southern Asian countries Dec. 26 are now erased.

"Initially I would have some dreams that involved water," Husum said. "I would be swimming in a hotel filled with water, looking for an escape route. I had this dream a couple times following the tsunami, but it has since gone away."

He has heard amazing stories of survival.

"I managed to track down a friend who had rented me a jeep and he described being pinned under one of his rentals and had some nasty scars to prove it," he said. "Aside from tales like these, the general attitude is 'business as usual', which is really what I expected."

The Canadian Red Cross is one of many aid agencies that responded to one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history.

Since the tsunami slammed the coastlines around the Indian Ocean rim, notably Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives, over 176,000 people died and more than 2.2 million people were directly impacted.

Canadians donated nearly $275 million to the Canadian Red Cross. More than half has been spent or committed, with the remainder to fund long-term rebuilding projects in the affected regions.

For the past three months, Haul Kamsari, a Canadian Red Cross aid worker from Saskatoon, has been in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital and largest city of Aceh, Indonesia, located on the island of Sumatra.

The 32-year-old finance and administration delegate plans to stay in the area for a year.

"It is the greatest disaster I've ever seen," he said, in a telephone interview Saturday morning. "I work in the office, but I've been to the field several times and we are still working on the temporary shelters for the displaced people. Some of them are still living in tents and clean water continues to be an issue."

On the island of Nias, two-storey houses have sunk and become one-storey.

"What used to be a market is just rubble and in Banda Aceh I saw a huge hospital that is half left," he said. "When I went along the coastline, it's just a wipeout basically."

The recovery process in tsunami-affected areas is expected to last up to 10 years, he said.

"It's slow going because of land issues," Kamsari said. "In some villages, 80 per cent of the people are missing and dead and the people who are left, nobody can prove where they lived and the land has changed."

However, many initiatives are underway such as mobile clinics, health clinics, polio projects and a disaster management early warning system. Locals are thankful for Canada's support, he said.

"There will be huge reconstruction going on in the next year and we are committed here for at least 10 years," Kamsari said. "I would like to say to the Canadian people that we are here to make sure that their donations go to the right place."

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2005

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news

[sonthaya]

I think it's mostly the Asian tourists that are missing in Phuket, I have just been reading one of the leading Danish newspapers, and the article states that more Danes than ever before are going to Phuket for holiday, quite a number of exstra flights has been put on the route Copenhagen Phuket.

[Padkapow Guy]

My wife will not go anywhere near Phuket. One of her friends that went there told her that she heard voices in the hotel hallways at night and when she looked there was nobody there.

This years trip will have to be near Koh Samet or Koh Chang.

bummer! because I love the Krabi area.

PKG

[spacebass]

After the recent comemarative (?) news coverage we all now know there are 800 dead bodies stashed somewhere on Phuket in a pile of containers. this is reality.

Now come on, be honest do you really want to be at a place like that if you don't have to be??

[kasi]

After the recent comemarative (?) news coverage we all now know there are 800 dead bodies stashed somewhere on Phuket in a pile of containers. this is reality.

Now come on, be honest  do you really want to be at a place like that if you don't have to be??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try trolling for "bass" somewhere else!

[limbos]

Kassi,

What's wrong with spacebass' assesment. May not imply to you but it sure does to many other peope, especially Asians.

Hotels in Kao Lak have problems finding adequetely trained staff and are paying, for Thai standards, hihg wages for unqualified staff cause they can't find enough hard needed staff.

Why?

Because Thais in general don't want to go to this area.

Some of my Thai friends decline going to work there.