Three months after giant waves killed at least 5,395 people along Thailand's Andaman coast -- about half of them foreign holidaymakers -- and sent its vital tourism industry into freefall, the region is scrambling to recover.

"The bigger wave than the tsunami that hit Phuket and five provinces in the south is the economic wave," said Kitti Phatanachinda, vice president of the Phuket Tourism Association.

Relief donations have enabled the rebuilding of new homes and the repair or replacement of fishing boats, but this has helped only 10 percent of Phuket residents.

"There are another 80 percent to 90 percent hit by the loss of tourists," Kitti told AFP.

Thailand is Southeast Asia's top tourism destination, reeling in 10 million foreign holidaymakers last year.

The tourist industry accounts for some six percent of gross domestic product, with Phuket alone drawing 2.75 million tourists and generating two billion dollars.

Now, the six tsunami-hit provinces of Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi, Ranong, Trang and Satun face lost tourism income of up to 43 billion bahtbillion dollars) this year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Local officials say January losses in Phuket alone averaged 10 million dollars a day.

Normally during Phuket's peak season over the Christmas and New Year period its hotel occupancy rate skyrockets to more than 90 percent.

But after the tsunami struck on December 26 this plummeted to single digits in January, rising slightly to 20 percent in Feburary.

The massive waves damaged 71 of Phuket's 507 hotels, but by early March, 87 percent of the total were up and running again.

"If (tourists) come back and spend their holidays here, our economic cycle will revolve back to normal," Kitti said.

However, hopes of a swift return of foreign holidaymakers could be dented by the collective trauma experienced by a handful of European nations still coming to terms with the deaths of thousands of their nationals in the tsunami.

Some 545 citizens of Sweden, a country of just nine million people, died or remain missing and presumed dead, according to Swedish police.

Sweden sends tens of thousands of tourists to Thailand each year but Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson warned during a visit to Phuket in January that the Thai government must explain why it failed to provide early warning of the tsunami if it wants tourists to return.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has promised to build a national disaster centre for Thailand, and a temporary tsunami warning system is due to be up and running on Patong, the main beach on Phuket, and other beaches next month.

Jacq Sangrat, manager of Sangrat Transport, which ferries tourists from Phuket to Phi Phi island, immortalised by the Hollywood film "The Beach", says business is dire.

Her company used to transport 500 people a day to the island but today that number has fallen to just over one hundred. Consequently, half of her 12-strong workforce have been temporarily laid off.

The Thai government, however, is determined to revitalise the region and recently launched a much-publicised multi-million dollar "Andaman recovery plan" promoting the region to domestic tourists and short-haul visitors from Asia.

Efforts to win back the valuable European market are also underway.

Much still needs to be done in terms of rebuilding the worst affected resorts and restaurants, but a walk down Patong beach shows a degree of normality has returned with foreign tourists once again dozing under beach umbrellas.

The 76-room Baan Laimai beach resort was one of several Patong resorts badly damaged by the tsunami but it has emerged as a symbol of recovery.

Following 50 million baht (1.3 million dollars) of repairs, the resort reopened in late February, and owner Jutamontree Sutee says his occupancy rate has climbed to above 50 percent.

The resort's Filipina singer Cynthia Velasco says authorities are also helping recovery efforts by ignoring midnight closing regulations.

"They really need the tourists to come back and the night life to start again," Velasco said.

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