The December 26 tsunami in the Indian Ocean did its best to shatter the lives and livelihoods of the dozen nations whose shorelines it ravaged. But the seven affected countries attending Madrid's FITUR Tourism Fair believe tourism can rapidly recover. FITUR, one of the largest international industry gatherings, opened midweek with a minute's silence in memory of the estimated 280,000 victims of the disaster.
But sector professionals from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand vowed 2005 would see strong growth.
"Tourism is already growing back again and conditions are returning to normal," Rita Sofia of the Indonesian Tourist Ministry insisted Friday.
Indonesia's Aceh province bore the brunt of the catastrophe with up to 230,000 people dead or missing in a region where separatists have been pushing for independence from Jakarta for decades.
Peace talks have been taking place over the past week in Finland but Jakarta continues to reject any demand for independence for Aceh, which has lucrative natural resources.
Both sides have called for a cease-fire to be respected during ongoing relief operations there.
"After the tsunami, there is a reason to bring people together. The Indonesian government has a plan to rehabilitate and develop the region in a sign we (the government) care about the people of Aceh," Sofia told AFP.
"Aceh is not a big tourist destination, even for Indonesian people, but it is very rich in resources and has good beaches," she added.
Bali, well away from the tsunami zone, is once again becoming a magnet for mainly young foreign tourists three years on from a terrorist bombing on the island which killed 202 people, mainly tourists, with 88 of the victims from Australia.
"Bali was a more important setback but last August it was hard to find a hotel place. With regard to the tsunami, Indonesia is pretty well intact apart from Aceh," explained Alfonso Carrasco of Spanish tour operator Catur, which specialises in trips to Bali.
Thailand's popular southern Andaman coast saw more than 5,000 people killed by the tsunami, including some 2,000 foreign visitors.
However, Chaladol Ussamarn of CBS Successive Tour forecast that even Phuket, where in recent days officials said government aid was urgently needed to bolster business amid plunging hotel occupancy rates, would recover.
"Phuket will have problems from February through March but will be back from April. We can get over it," said Ussamarn, adding that "operators know very well Thailand is doing a good job, including the government," in reacting to the crisis.
In the Maldives, where at least 82 people were killed in the tsunami and where reconstruction costs are estimated at around one billion dollars with many islands in the chain barely above sea level, the industry message is one of cautious optimism.
"I am quite optimistic. The first couple of weeks afterwards there were some cancellations, but we should be back to full swing by November. For us to rebuild, people must come," Mohamed Maleeh Jamal of the Maldives Tourism Promotion board told AFP.
"A lot of agencies say they are now getting fresh bookings," he added.
Tourism is crucial to the Maldives' development with the industry accounting for around 30 percent of GDP.
Jamal held out the hope that the massive quake in the Indian Ocean and the tsunami which it generated would ultimately encourage greater respect for the environment.
"Looking at the discussions going on in Davos (at the World Economic Forum) I think everybody understands something has happened to the environment," Jamal said.
Sri Lanka, where official estimates put the death toll from the tsunami at 31,000, and India, whose remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands suffered some 2,000 deaths with thousands more still missing, said their tourist industries would prove resilient in the face of the disaster.
"The tsunami affected a very small part of India and no deaths of foreign tourists were reported. India has emerged, moreover, as a donor country for example, for Sri Lanka and the Maldives," S.V. Singh of the Incredible India operator noted.
"India registered 24 percent growth in tourists in 2004 on 2003 and we foresee a further rise in 2005," Singh added.
Sri Lanka's Amith Sumanapala, director of Colombo-based Walkers Tours, praised the international aid effort in affected areas.