Post-tsunami tourism in Asia stirs debate
The day after the earthquake-spawned tsunami killed thousands and ravaged coastlines across the Indian Ocean, Jeff Burleson posted a message on FlyerTalk.com, wondering whether the disaster would translate to lower Asian airfares.
Slammed by fellow posters, the Encinitas, Calif., globetrotter was unrepentant: "Did airfares & room rates fall after 9/11? Yes. By your logic, you would have encouraged everyone to avoid NYC & DC because going would afford those who went with an ''unseemly disaster discount,'' " he wrote. "I plan on going to Asia this spring, and I invite all of you to join me in a tangible demonstration of goodwill & sympathy vs. useless pity."
Even as relief workers at tourist resorts in southwestern Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and elsewhere comb through wreckage, hotels in the hard-hit regions have reopened, beach chairs and parasol drinks at the ready. Tourists are coming back, some to help out, others to gawk at the destruction.
The contentious FlyerTalk.com exchange highlights a dilemma: Should would-be visitors steer clear out of respect for the estimated 150,000 victims, or help rebuild economies by spending money at the scene?
"Nobody is making light of the huge human cost of the disaster (or) suggesting we should go and get in the way of the clear-up. But for many in the developing world, no tourists this morning can mean no food on the table tonight," says Lonely Planet guidebooks co-founder Tony Wheeler, writing in London''s Independent newspaper.
"We can all dig into our pockets to contribute money to relief efforts. But in the longer term the best thing we can do is, simply, go there."
In Thailand, where about half of more than 5,200 victims are foreigners, tourism officials are bracing for a plunge in peak-season business — and with the U.S. State Department advising Americans to stay away, bargain fares have yet to materialize. Still, tourists are already returning to the damaged resort island of Phuket. At least 75% of the island''s hotels are operational, and PhuketGazette.com notes that "major nightclubs and restaurants are still open and busy."
But in Sri Lanka, which recorded one of the highest death tolls, the prospect of tourists returning to damaged coastal areas is "something of a double-edged sword," says Sri Lanka-born Varini De Silva, owner of the tour company Ceylon Express International.
"On the one hand," De Silva says, "we have to get the country moving again, and tourism affects every strata of society. On the other, (Sri Lanka) is in mourning ... it''s a place of sadness, death and horror."
部分词汇翻译
slam v.砰地关上, 砰地放下, 猛力抨击, 冲击
n.砰, 猛击, 撞击, 冲击
SLAM
=Strategic Low Altitude Missile 低空战略导弹
globetrotter 世界观光旅行家
contentious adj.好争吵的, 争论的, 有异议的
independent n.中立派, 无党派者
adj.独立自主的, 不受约束的
be in mourning 戴孝
[俚]被打得眼圈发黑
(指甲等)肮脏的, 黑的
