| Almost exactly five months ago, the world woke up in shock as media images broadcast shocking pictures of tourists and locals fleeing for their lives as massive tsunami waves engulfed much of Southeast Asia, including Thailand's southern Andaman coast.
But today, foreigners are returning to the Andaman region in droves, confident in Thailand's early warning systems and showing little fear of future tsunamis.
Mr. Peter Paley, a 53 year-old Swiss tourist who spoke to TNA reporter, is typical of a number of tourists who visited the region before the tsunami, and are now returning for more holidays there.
While admitting his initial shock over the tsunami, he says that he realises that it was a natural disaster which could not be predicted.
He also points to the instalment of early warning equipment and the fact that regular evacuation drills are held in the region, saying that should another disaster occur, damage would be minimized.
Mr. and Mrs. Green, a Dutch couple who originally honeymooned in Thailand's southern resort island of Phuket, describe their return there as revisiting a second home.
The couple have planted trees to compensate for those destroyed in the tsunami, and like Mr. Paley, stress that the tsunami was a natural disaster and, therefore, not a matter to be overly worried about in the future.
The government is keen to pull in more foreign tourists to the Andaman area, which saw a sharp drop in visitor numbers in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami.
But tourist numbers are now returning to their pre-tsunami levels, and the government is confident of hitting its tourism target for the year.
By: MCOT, Thailand
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