Suchada Yuvaboon, vice president of the Thailand Tourism Council, professed that she too had initial misgivings about visiting Phuket and Krabi a few weeks after the tsunami disaster.

"I felt uneasy visiting after such a tragedy and wondering what I would find," said the chairman of the Rose Garden Thailand.
Nevertheless, she went ahead. As part of her trip, she visited a few significant "wats" (temples) in Phuket and Khao Lak to make merit in the Buddhist tradition of praying for the dead.

"I felt good doing that. In the Buddhist custom, when you make merit for people you don't know, it is the highest merit of all," she said.

She then visited Phuket and Krabi and said, "I've never seen Patong so beautiful in my life".

Suchada was also leading a group of 17 Thai corporate clients to the destinations to give them a chance to see for themselves how little of Phuket and Krabi was unaffected and to convince them to continue featuring them in their events.

"Initially, it was difficult to convince them to go too," she said. "Thais, especially those of Chinese descent, are quite superstitious and do not want any association with death, especially before Chinese New Year.

"They asked me whether it was too early to go "sanuk" (have fun) but I told them that they can overcome their guilt by making merit. If you feel fear or guilt, it is within yourself so you must let it go by making merit."

She then took the clients to the same wats she had gone to and they all participated in merit-making ceremonies. "I said to them, why don't they bring their meetings to Phuket and Krabi and have an option for their participants where they can do merit-making? Most Thais would like to do this."

It is through measures such as these that the Thai tourism industry is trying to persuade its own local population to return to the tsunami-affected regions.

While "ghost" sightings, which have been widely reported in the local media, have spooked most Thais, Suchada believes that these obstacles can be overcome if handled sensitively and respectfully.

She must be right.

Since that trip, at least five of the multinational companies she took to Phuket and Krabi have booked groups for January and February.

The Tourism Council is also having its out-of-town meeting in Phuket shortly and all members have been urged to bring friends and relatives.

"We realise with this crisis, we have to help ourselves first before we can rebuild confidence in the international market," said Suchada.