After the tsunami, everything is ready to welcome tourists back, says Phuket parish priest
Phuket (AsiaNews) "After the tsunami, everything is ready to welcome tourists in Phuket," said Fr Peter Bancha Apichartvorakul, priest at the Assumption Parish Church in the world famous tsunami-stricken tourist resort.
Speaking today on World Tourism Day, Father Bancha said that the Thais are preparing with joy for the beginning of the high tourist season, which runs from October to January.
"Tourism and tourism-related activities are the mainstay of the local economy and it is important that the sector already be up and running at full speed," he said.
Locals, including non Catholics, who gravitate around Father Bancha's parish church, cannot wait for things to get going; for them, this is the first real opportunity to get back on their feet after December's disaster and "directly touch the prospect that life can start again after such a tragic experience".
In Thailand alone, the December 26 tsunami killed 5,395 people with 2,817 people missing.
The Catholic priest said that every hotel is booked till January and that every fisherman has gone out to sea.
"Right now, I am going to Rangon where tomorrow I am handing over nets and boats to 123 fishing families. All the money comes from donations sent to Caritas internationalis".
According to Father Bancha, Phuket is even better than before the tsunami. "I hear locals say that the sun seems brighter and the sky and sea seem cleaner than last year. It is an ideal time to visit our country," he said.
For the past month, most of those displaced by the mega wave have moved into permanent housing. "The Thai government," the priest explained, "rebuilt Phuket without haphazard measures. It backed every reconstruction project it could and thus guaranteed a quick return to normal life, especially because this place is such an important economic resource for the country".
Father Bancha concluded by inviting "tourists and travel operators from around the world" to heed the Pope's message for World Tourism Day, namely that tourism's primary goal must always be "maintaining respect for the human person as part of the quest for the common good".
This appeal is particularly significant for Thailand, a country that has become a magnet for the sex trade, especially from the United States, Australia, Europe and Japan.
Figures released by the Tourism Authority of Thailand indicate men travelling to the country outnumber women by 28 per cent; in the Caribbean, the ratio is three to two.
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