Phuket

no1patto · #1 07-03-2005, 11:53

Hi BM's i read this in my local paper today

By Jamie Walker in Phuket
07mar05

THAILAND'S tourism boss wants to build the "Universal Studio of tsunami" simulating how the deadly waves struck, killing hundreds of thousands of people and laying waste to coastlines across southern Asia.

As the Thai Government unleashed a charm offensive at the weekend to lure foreign holidaymakers back to the country's cleaned-up southern beaches, Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Juthamas Siriwan tested the limits of acceptable taste by suggesting that the proposed tsunami museum could become a tourist attraction along the lines of a Hollywood theme park.
Visits should be enjoyable and involve a virtual-reality experience of the monster waves hitting last December 26, she said.

"Maybe the next Universal Studio is in Khao Lak," Ms Siriwan said, referring to the devastated resort strip north of Phuket where thousands died, many of them foreign tourists.

She said design of the tsunami museum could be thrown open to an international competition, but it was likely to feature a high-tech re-creation of the waves, possibly on a big screen, to "let people know how it happened, and how to prepare yourself when it happens".

Asked about the potential for her comments to cause offence to survivors and relatives of those killed in the tsunami, Ms Siriwan told The Courier-Mail: "We understand that it is something you should not make fun of.

"This is an educational centre for everyone to learn . . . so if you can, you should build something that is also enjoyable."

Although the confirmed death toll of 5395 was comparatively light in Thailand against that in Indonesia's Aceh province or Sri Lanka, the country's once-thriving Andaman coast has been hit by a "second tsunami" – the collapse of its $5 billion-a-year tourism industry.

About half of the dead in Thailand were foreign tourists. At least 17 Australians died there in, or after, the tsunami, according to latest Department of Foreign Affairs figures.

Video footage of waves hitting the resort island of Phuket and nearby Khao Lak on the Thai mainland produced defining images of the catastrophe, along with horrifying images of bodies lying for days where people had died or where they were brought to temples that became putrid, open-air morgues.

Ms Siriwan told the 2000-plus travel industry delegates and journalists flown in from around the world to Phuket for the "Andaman Recovery" initiative that the tsunami had so far cost Thai tourism the equivalent of more than $1 billion. Fully one third of tourism workers in the region had died and the hotel occupancy rate had crashed to less than 20 per cent – a quarter of what it would be during the traditional tourism high season, according to new figures released by the authority.

Tourism Council of Thailand president Wichit Na Ranong said the havoc wrought by the waves had been compounded by loss of livelihood to "tens of thousands" of local people who had lost jobs or had work hours cut.

Ms Siriwan said Thailand's message to the world was that most of the damage had been repaired, resorts were back in business and it was safe for tourists to return.

Mac · #2 09-03-2005, 08:38

Speaking personally I have absolutely no desire to relive the events of December 26th. I feel great sorrow for the tragedy that befell Patong that day and the idea that some creep in the Tourism Office wants to make money out of it frankly sickens me.

I would like to take this woman and ram her head down my toilet. That would show her what a Tsunami felt like. Cheap and effective imho.

Mac

dano · #3 09-03-2005, 09:20

It somewhat amazing what individuals will say in front of 2000 people...she was probably trying to make more of a name for herself.. what a pea brain!! I would be interested to know the look on her bosses face though....Mac.. why don't you tell us how you really feel... Great post ....aloha from dano...35days to go.

no1patto · #4 09-03-2005, 13:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac

Speaking personally I have absolutely no desire to relive the events of December 26th. I feel great sorrow for the tragedy that befell Patong that day and the idea that some creep in the Tourism Office wants to make money out of it frankly sickens me.

I would like to take this woman and ram her head down my toilet. That would show her what a Tsunami felt like. Cheap and effective imho.

Mac

I agree thought it was absolutely ludicrous this is why i posted it i wanted to see what other BM's thought

GR_Fantom · #5 10-03-2005, 01:51

Keep some of our judgment sirs..it sounds very harsh to have said sth like that..maybe they were meaning sth else..from my small experience thai people are not arrogant at all..should they actually meant sth like that it is so insensitive..but just don't judge by sth that was written by journalist...i was reading a post on a ny times article on budget airlines and according to forum member the things mentioned were absolutely unrealistic..and it was the ny times...

anyways..let's keep up our spirit..LOS is waiting..

andy50 · #6 10-03-2005, 02:35

probably be a bit like that "jeath camp " attraction on the river kwai
i remeber going there in 1987, my first trip,
the thing that sticks out in my mind the most, was the thai woman shop owner, going off on one, because no one would buy any of her overpriced t-shirts!
that was the first time i saw a thai losing it!