TAT pushing hard to help recovery
PHUKET CITY: Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Juthamas Siriwan said today that any delay in recovering from the December 26 tsunami will cost the country 10 billion baht a month in lost tourism revenue.
As a result, she said, “We are in a hurry to let people abroad know that [any danger from] the tsunami has already passed, and many tourist destinations [that were damaged] are recovering and are expected to be fully operational within a month,” she said today at Phuket Provincial Hall.
“We have to send out teams to publicize the facts about the damage and our recovery efforts, especially to places such as Sweden,” she said.
TAT officials would visit Sweden to offer official condolences for the many Swedish nationals who lost their lives in the disaster, she added.
“On January 24, media and tour agencies from Japan will visit Phuket. They will be among the first groups to arrive. We also have contacted Austrian media and have asked them to visit as well,” she said, adding that, with good cooperation from everybody, the Thai tourism industry would recover soon.
