Tourism Industry Losses and Recovery Process from the Indian Ocean Tsunami -A Case of the Affected Tourist Destination in Southern Thailand

Abstract eng:
Three years have past since the Indian Ocean Tsunami occurred on December 26, 2004. Southern Thailand that is famous as a worldwide sightseeing area suffered serious damage from this disaster. This paper provides the problems and the viewpoints for countermeasures in the sightseeing area from the disaster response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami and the agenda for a future action plan for tourism industry based on the recovery process in southern Thailand from the disaster for three years. Firstly, we analyze the recovery process after the Indian Ocean Tsunami using the time-series number of tourists from the foreign countries such as Japan, Germany, Australia and Sweden to Phuket for six years before and after the event. Secondly, we grasp the recovery process to have interview to owners and managers of tourism-related business like hotels to hear about their post-disaster experiences in sequence from March 5 to 11, 2007. As a result, it could be seen that the return of the tourists from the foreign countries to Phuket shows a different tendency from one to another. Especially, it is characteristic that Japanese tourists did not come back to Phuket after the tsunami. In addition, we proposed the six items based on the result of the interview, that is, the reinforcement of the refuge system, some loan programs for reconstruction of the facilities like hotels and bungalows, the necessity of diversification of risk to the hotel guests, a compensation system to foreign laborers, baseless and harmful rumors and countermeasures to them.

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