May 7--Travel agents selling tour packages to Burma are expecting cancellations in the wake of Cyclone Nargis over the weekend, but some may end up handling aid workers instead.

The death toll from the cyclone has been estimated at upwards of 15,000, with tens of thousands left homeless and water and food supplies running short in the country's largest city, Rangoon.

Kitti Warakulkitti, managing director of MT Tour, said many Thai tours heading to Burma were expected to be delayed for several weeks pending the repair of key infrastructure.

"I think that many tourists will see this as a chance to help the Burmese people now and see what they can do to help, similar to what happened after the December 2006 tsunami," he added.

Tourists were likely to bring clothes, drinking water and food to donate.

"From what I have heard speaking with clients, many tourists still want to go even with the problems. Burma and Thailand are close neighbours, and most Thai tourists visit for religious merit-making trips," Mr Kitti said. MT Tour's next trip was a party of 30 scheduled to depart on May 25.

Mr Kitti said that from talks with hotel operators in Burma, most hotels in tourist destinations were operating, but that roadways still had to be cleared of debris and repaired.

"No access to tap water and electricity is a major problem. But there should not be a serious problem for tourism because hotels have their generators," he added.

Most queries by travellers have focused on security and safety issues, as well as transport.

Another local tour operator said he was delaying his own trip schedules for a month.

"Actually, I think the whole business has been in a downturn since last year's anti-government protests. The storm won't really affect business that much," the operator said.

The Thai-owned five-star hotel, Kandawgyi in Rangoon, is closed temporarily due to the impact of the cyclone, said chairman Panlert Baiyoke.

He said he decided to close even though the hotel was not located near the affected area, because infrastructure in Rangoon, especially electricity, had been severely affected.

"The oil shortage is getting worse than before the cyclone hit, and now the bridges and main roads in some areas, which were sometimes impassable, are collapsed, transport and logistics have ceased for a while, so we cannot open in this kind of situation," he said.

Local airlines, meanwhile, have returned to normal service, with only two flights between Bangkok and Rangoon cancelled. Thai Airways, Bangkok Airways and Thai AirAsia all operate daily flights along the route.

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