BANGKOK, Jan. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Thailand's tourism industry could lose over 40 billion baht (1.02 billion US dollars) unless tourismin the six Andaman provinces affected by last month's tsunami picks up within three months, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) warned Sunday.

    TAT governor Juthamas Siriwan was quoted by the Thai News Agency as saying that a failure of the Andaman tourism sector to revive over the first quarter of the year could see tourist numbers drop by 5 million, causing a loss of around 43 billion baht (1.2 billion US dollars) in revenue. By the second quarter ofthe year, this figure could jump to 52.4 billion baht (1.34 billion US dollars), or 78.3 billion baht (2 billion US dollars) after 12 months.

    The grim scenario would dash the government's hopes of attracting around 12 million domestic and foreign tourists to the Andaman region this year. Domestic tourism could be particularly badly affected, with the worst case predictions envisaging a drop of 50 percent in Thai visitors.

    The TAT has now embarked on a desperate public relations campaign to restore confidence in the provinces where over 5,000 people died when massive tidal waves hit on Dec. 26. Over the coming weeks, international media networks and tour operators are being invited to the region to see for themselves the progress being made on rebuilding the region's resorts and tourist attractions.

    Juthamas said that the TAT was initially concentrating on the Chinese market, due to the imminence of Chinese New Year, when many Chinese traditionally visit tourist resorts such as Phuket.

    For Thai tourists, the TAT is working with tour operators to organize cut-price Andaman tour packages. The TAT is also hoping to attract more incentive and conference tourists to the region. Additional publicity is being provided by well-known public figures and sports stars visiting the area at the invitation of the government.

    Nonetheless, she expressed confidence that the next three months would see a rising number of visitors to Phuket. Enditem