"Whenever there is a crisis event, whether it be terrorism, war or a natural disaster or epidemic, the first thing which is a problem affecting a lot of countries is that it is perceived as a very dangerous destination," expert David Beirman told AFP.

"So our greatest challenge is to expose the truth," he said on the sidelines of an emergency session of the World Tourism Organisation.

Tourism sectors of Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives were worst hit by the sea walls that smashed into their coastlines on December 26 and exacted a regional death toll of more than 289,000.

According to the Pacific Asia Travel Association, Asia's main travel trade body, 283 out of 6,639 hotels in Thailand were damaged or destroyed compared to 49 out of 246 in Sri Lanka and 21 out of 84 in the Maldives.

Beirman, author of "Restoring Tourism Destinations in Crisis" published in 2003, advised that affected countries try to leverage international sympathy over the tragedy by encouraging holidaymakers to visit.

"A lot of people who would normally be tourists to these places think that, well, they've gone through a terrible disaster, they don't want us to visit their country," he said.

"In fact the opposite is true, because this is very much the time when you need people to show support and solidarity.

"It's interesting that on the one hand, a lot of countries around the world have donated huge amounts to tsunami relief to their credit, but tourists think that they shouldn't come."

Coming to spend money in affected regions however can help countries more effectively than giving donations, he said

That message is getting out in Thailand, where tourists such as Tom Berry, a 27-year-old marketing consultant, has pressed on with his plans to holiday on the tsunami-hit island of Phuket, where hotel occupancy rates have plunged.

"The damage to the beaches I've seen was a lot less than I expected, although we've travelled up north and to Koh Samui, and the mood is definitely more sombre here, more serious," he told AFP.

"It's a little bit eerie to be in such a developed resort area with not so many people... I'm glad that I still came because first of all it's beautiful and second of all it's a good way to help people recover."

Beirman said he expected tourism to recover more quickly than if the tsunamis had hit several years ago as the tourism sector has become more resilient in the wake of a series of crises, such as SARS and the Iraq war.

"Because the frequency of crisis events has actually been greater since September 11... the travelling public tends to bounce back much more quickly," he said, referring to the 2001 attacks in the United States.

"A lot of it has been because the travel industry, both the airline industry and the tourism industry generally, are becoming a lot more professional in the way we handle it," said Beirman, who is representing Israel's tourism ministry at the emergency session, aimed at formulating a response to the disaster.

"What used to happen, even three years ago, was that you'd have a crisis and everyone would panic. People aren't panicking so much about it any more. They're working out solutions."