Tourism plea

Phuket, Thailand

As the tsunami death toll topped 170,000 this week, officials from the stricken countries pleaded for tourists to return. Officials from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand said that tourists had been reluctant to visit this month, partly out of fear of being thought insensitive, and partly because they don’t want to encounter distressing scenes. Both fears are unjustified, the officials said. Many resorts are on coasts that weren’t hit at all, while some of those that were engulfed have already reopened. And locals are eager to get the economy back on track. “People will achieve a lot more by going back as tourists than by putting a couple of bucks in a collection box,” said Tony Smith of the Thailand Tourist Authority.

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