eTN, december 11, 2006
Tourist arrivals to Phuket - one of the Thai beach resorts hit by the December 26, 2004 tsunami - are expected to reach 4.7 million this year, up 87 per cent from 2005, a Thai think tank predicted Sunday.
According to a report issued by Kasikorn Research Center (KRC), an affiliate of the Kasikorn Bank, about 70 per cent of 4.7 million tourists visiting Phuket in 2006 were foreigners, up 150 per cent from last year. Parts of Phuket Island were hit by the Boxing Day tidal wave two years ago that killed more than 5,300 people in Thailand's six provinces rimming the Andaman Sea. Nearly half of the tsunami victims were foreign nationals vacationing at Thailand's popular beach resorts Phuket, Phang Nga and Phi Phi - all on the Andaman coast. The return of foreign visitors to Phuket this year demonstrates their confidence in Thailand's tsunami safety measures and the success of publicity campaigns carried out by the Thai public and private sectors, said the KRC.
>>Full article
