More than 10,000 Thai and foreign visitors, plus 550 international media and 650 local media, attended the ceremonies that were marked by religious readings, laying of wreaths, a minute of silence and dedication of a specially commissioned memorial to ensure that future generations never forget what happened on that fateful morning. The Royal Thai Government flew in many of the mourners at its expense. Among the thousands of people who perished in the tsunami was the only son of Princess Ubol Ratana. Reconstruction has been a massive exercise in time, effort, money and energy. The Royal Thai Government allocated about 65 billion baht for the various aspects of the reconstruction. Of that amount, roughly 42 billion baht had been used as of 15 December, 2005. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) alone has allocated the budget of roughly 291 million baht to undertake a comprehensive rebuilding of two badly affected beaches, Kamala and Patong. Visitors to the tsunami commemoration ceremony were able to clearly see the results achieved as a result of the strong commitment and cooperation between the public and private sectors. Dr Thaksin said, “Although nature was responsible for this great calamity, another — more beautiful — side of nature also revealed itself during this difficult time. This took the form of an outpouring of care and affection exhibited by mankind towards their fellow human beings, especially as displayed here in our Kingdom. “The compassion; the selfless sacrifice; the sense of sharing during arduous circumstances; the tireless and unwavering dedication to assisting the victims of the disaster; and even the indescribable look in people’s eyes, which seemed to say ‘I share your pain as well as your happiness.’ “These virtues were clearly demonstrated to the people of Thailand and throughout the world, as never before.” He noted that although things are virtually back to normal “in some cases,” much work still remains to be done in other areas. In addition to the massive effort that went into the search and rescue operations, identification of the bodies, and repatriating the injured in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the reconstruction effort involved rehabilitating the infrastructure, rebuilding homes and work areas, providing support for job creation and establishing an early warning system. Post-tsunami damage in the six affected provinces, Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Satun and Ranong is estimated at 10 billion baht. Participants in the memorial ceremonies lauded the Royal Thai Government for the memorial. Foreign visitors were particularly impressed by the Buddhist symbolism of the floating lantern which, after being lit, soars off skywards like a hot-air balloon, signifying the souls of the victims rising to the heavens. Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Mrs Juthamas Siriwan noted that visitor arrivals are recovering steadily in the second half of 2005. This is due to the resumption of normal flight schedules and charters from Europe and many parts of Asia. The Thai government has supported this by decreasing the landing charges at Phuket Airport while TAT has provided brochure support. The Scandinavian market is up, as a result of flights from Sweden and Norway. Visitors from China are on the rise, especially during the country’s long holiday national weekend (Golden Week). Thailand also received 7,000 incentive visitors from China as a result of a bilateral tourism cooperation agreement. The Japanese market is growing as a result of Japanese switching destinations from other Asia-Pacific beach resorts. The launch of Bangkok Airways’ thrice weekly Hiroshima-Bangkok flights as of 2 December, 2005, is expected to give arrivals a further boost. From Korea, arrivals were strong in October, the traditional month of Korean honeymoons. Direct charter flights from Korea to Phuket which were suspended after the tsunami have resumed operations. Korean Air began to fly on 16 September, and Thai Airways is operating two flights per week from Seoul to Phuket. Asiana Airlines’ two weekly flights began on 26 October, 2005, and are reporting high load factors. The Taiwan market is getting better, mostly in the form of corporate incentives. Arrivals from the Middle East are up significantly, as well as from Russia thanks to Thai Airways’ new Moscow-Bangkok flights, launched in November 2005. Mrs Juthamas said she hoped the worldwide media coverage received by the tsunami memorial would further boost the confidence of global visitors and convey the sense of normalcy. She noted that the most important thing was to ensure that the local Thai people would be able to get back to work and resume normal livelihoods. Further information:
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