'If New Zealanders want to help Thailand recover from the tsunami they'll achieve a lot more by going back as tourists than by putting a couple of bucks in a collection box,' says Thailand Tourist Authority's New Zealand representative Tony Smith.

Of the tourist areas hit by the Asian tsunami, Thailand's southwest coast, centred round Phuket, is the most popular destination for New Zealanders. Authorities and operators there - and in other affected areas, such as Penang in Malaysia, the Maldives, the southwest coast of Sri Lanka or Kerala in India - have worked frantically to get their tourist industries up and running again.

But, having largely done that, they now face a reluctance by tourists to return. This is partly out of fear of seeing unpleasant sights, but more from a concern about being thought insensitive. Smith brusquely dismisses such concerns.

"Tourists aren't going to be faced with horrific scenes because, except in one or two areas like Khao Lak, everything's been cleaned up. And they certainly aren't going to be thought insensitive because the local people want tourists to come back.

"On the contrary, their biggest worry is that if tourists don't return quickly they'll have a second disaster, an economic one, because they'll have to close all the hotels that survived the tsunami and lay the people off. They rely on tourism to provide employment for the locals who need it more than ever now so they can start rebuilding their lives.

"The longer we put off going back, the longer it's going to take to re-establish the place and the more negative impact the tsunami will have."

Phuket's main website, www.phuket.com, is expressing similar sentiments. The site carries a plea on behalf of the local tourist industry "encouraging visitors still to come to Phuket. Most hotels and resorts are operating normally (80 per cent of Phuket hotel rooms were unaffected and more are coming back into service daily), beaches look better than ever and almost all restaurant and tourism operations are open for business as usual".

This time of year is not the high season for New Zealanders to visit Thailand. But, Smith says, given the dreadful start to the New Zealand summer some Kiwis are looking for warm destinations. "I would encourage them to travel to Thailand because they'll be very, very welcome."

New Zealanders mostly start booking for winter breaks in Thailand around March and the Thailand Tourist Authority's fervent wish is for that to happen as usual.

"By then," Smith says, "probably only Khao Lak will still be out of action. Places like Phuket, Trang and Krabi are already pretty much back to normal. There is no reason why people should not be going back right now, let alone in a couple of months."

But while Thailand may be keen to get tourists back, are the resorts really ready?