THAILAND/Tourists: Irish tourists holidaying in the parts of Thailand worst hit by Sunday's tsunami have been provided with alternative accommodation, while those who were due to fly home this week from the Maldives in the Indian Ocean have had their return flights delayed for around 24 hours.
A spokesman for Twohig Travel, one of the largest long-haul operators in Ireland, said yesterday that all of the company's clients were safe and accounted for.
Mr Ed Burke said all passengers who were due to travel to the two most popular destinations on the west coast of Thailand - Phuket and Krabi - have been offered alternative accommodation on the eastern part of the country.
Mr Burke estimated that many hotels in Phuket and Krabi will remain closed for three to six months. While many of the hotels were left structurally sound, a number had suffered extensive water and silt damage.
However, the "resilience of the Irish traveller was staggering", he said.
No-one in the affected resorts in Thailand or the Maldives had sought to return to Ireland immediately and no-one due to depart in the next week or so had pulled out of going to the region.
All passengers who were scheduled to travel to Phuket or Krabi in the immediate future had so far accepted accommodation elsewhere in the region.
Many Irish tourists in the Maldives were scheduled to spend a number of days shopping in Dubai on the way home and Mr Burke said that all of them had expressed wishes to proceed with these plans.
Twohig Travel had between 200 and 250 clients in Phuket and Krabi when the disaster struck two days ago, killing more than 20,000 people and leaving thousands more injured. Mr Burke said that all his clients have been accounted for and are safe.
He said that the Patong area of Phuket, the main tourist location on the island where there is a large concentration of bars and restaurants, had been badly damaged.
He estimated that most hotels in this area will be under repair for up to six months.
Mr Burke said that the first of his company's clients who had been in Phuket on Sunday were due back in Ireland over the next day or so.
There are no direct scheduled services between Thailand and Ireland and all passengers will fly via London or Amsterdam to return home.
He said that just under 100 of his company's clients were on islands in the Maldives on Sunday. Again, all of them have been accounted for and none have been injured. Mr Burke said that water taxis and seaplanes that normally take passengers from the airport in the capital, Male, to the outlying islands were yesterday being used to ferry food and supplies to the worst-hit areas. As a result, tourists had had to remain in their resorts for an extra day or so. The first Irish travellers from the Maldives are scheduled to return later this week.
Mr Burke said that Twohig Travel had no clients in Sri Lanka when the disaster struck.
The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday urged against immediate travel to the Maldives, the eastern part of Sri Lanka or the western part of Thailand.
