Tourism business on Andaman coast makes 70% recovery

BANGKOK: -- The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) has said that the tourism business along the country's southern Andaman coast has recovered about 70 per cent in the last year, and that now -- one year after the tsunami devastated six coastal provinces of Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun--full recovery will take another one or two years.

TCT President Vichit Na Ranong said on Saturday that full recovery of the region's formerly upscale tourism business in the Andaman area would take another one or two years and would be dependent on facility rebuilding and having effective promotional campaigns which will have to be launched on an offensive basis.

Major reasons that have interfered with the ability of foreign tourists to visit resort provinces along the Andaman coast, according to Mr. Vichit, include tourist concerns over facilities, the need for an effective alarm system and that concerned government agencies must go all out to persuade foreign tourists to visit the area.

He said incentives such as lowering landing fees should be provided to foreign airlines to encourage them to stop in Thailand, while the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) may organize special package tours, especially for Asian tourists.

Tourism destinations along the coast saw revenue drop about Bt40 billion (US$1 billion) during 2005, he said, adding that total tourism revenue in the area stood at about Bt80 billion (US$2 billion) last year and was expected to climb to around Bt100 billion (US$2.5 billion) in 2006.

This year, foreign tourists visiting the area are projected to reach 70 per cent of pre-tsunami tourism levels and the remainder are locals, unchanged from 2005.

--TNA 2006-01-21

According to some of my friends in the tourist business ,Patong is having a high season even better than before, I beleive at least Patong is up at full speed.