Jan. 5--Thailand stands to lose four billion baht a month in tourism revenue from the tsunami-struck southern provinces, where it is likely to take at least two to three months to restore facilities, according to Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

TAT governor Juthamas Siriwan said the country needed to work urgently to fix the damaged property to minimise the impact on the overall economy, adding that the agency had not yet revised its target of international arrivals.

The TAT will ask the government to allocate an additional one billion baht on top of the two-billion-baht marketing budget for local and international markets this year.

Mrs Juthamas said the previous budget was not sufficient to cover the additional promotion of tourism needed in major markets following the disaster which hit southern tourism provinces.

She said the recovery plan could last about two to three months which would result in loss of revenue between eight billion and 12 billion baht.

While damage to hotels and property in the areas is estimated to be 39 billion baht, around 60 percent of the hotels in the region were operating as usual, she said.

Of the 33,585 hotel rooms in Phuket, some 17,847 are functional. However, only 1,023 rooms are available in Phangnga out of the total of 6,369.

Phuket governor Udomsak Asawarangkul recently called a meeting with the TAT, the Office of Tourism Development and Kamala Tambon Administration and the local police to discuss a plan to rebuild the affected areas of the island.

Mrs Juthamas said the TAT was in charge of drafting a new perspective for Patong beach to be used as a pilot project for new building construction, facilities and zoning regulations along the coastline.

"We could use this tragic event to regulate the construction of property around the beaches and create a better landscape and environment there."

She said most tourists had expressed concern over the quality of seawater after the disaster as it may damage coral reefs. Some tour groups from Europe have cancelled their trips but a group from France confirmed its visit next month.

However, a survey taken by a TAT team found that some of the hard coral reefs were damaged in certain areas but most soft coral reefs in popular diving spots such as the Similan Islands were still intact.

"Although we lost many lives and much property in the disaster, the tragic event has brought some good things as it has swept away all the garbage and some parts of the Andaman Sea around Phuket are the clearest they have been in 20 years," she said.

She added that the government was now trying to revive the conditions underwater by sending staff to clear up and replant some of the coral reefs, she said.

At the same time, the TAT will hold roadshows in Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan to express condolences to families of tourists killed and injured in the tsunami, and provide updates of the situation in the South.

Mrs Juthamas hopes the tsunami-hit area would be initially restored by March when the TAT plans to launch a major campaign to woo tourists to Thailand at the International Tourismus Borse in Berlin, the world's largest tourism trade show.

For the local market, the TAT plans to link up with the private sector to offer discount tourism packages.

"Tour programmes, inviting people to do good deeds and replant the coral reefs would be offered to Thais at cut-throat prices as it would take a lot of guts for Thais to travel to the tsunami-hit area after such a disaster," she said.

On a related note, Mrs Juthamas indicated that the opening of the Bangkok Film Festival, to take place this month, would be scaled down and that celebrities scheduled to appear at the event would help raise funds for the victims of the tsunami disaster.

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