December’s tsunami has already wiped Bt5 billion from the Andaman tourism sector…
December’s tsunami has already wiped Bt5 billion from the Andaman tourism sector, but hotel occupancy rates are gradually rising and could return to normal by the start of the upcoming tourism season, according to Tourism Minister Sontaya Kunplome.
In an upbeat message today designed to boost confidence in the six provinces affected by the tsunami, the tourism minister was careful to temper his optimism with figures showing a sharp decline in visitor numbers over January, when 180,000 fewer tourists than expected visited Thailand.
Nonetheless, he said that February figures suggested a 12 percent rise in national hotel occupancy rates compared to the same period last year, while charter flights from Europe and Asia to the Andaman island of Phuket had pushed up occupancy rates in the province to 35-40 percent, compared to only 10 percent in the immediate wake of the tsunami.
Although he conceded that the tsunami had wiped Bt5-6 billion off the tourism sector, he voiced confidence that the situation was picking up, in part due to the government’s marketing offensive and urgent attempts to rehabilitate the affected region.
Noting that the tourism sector had revived faster than expected, he said that the tourism situation was likely to return to normal by the upcoming tourism high season.
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