Visitors are flocking to Asian destinations struck by last year's tsunami in large numbers this winter, but a full tourism recovery is not expected until sometime next year, a UN agency says.

Indonesia , Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand are finally experiencing high hotel occupancy rates after months of flagging tourism following the tsunami, said the UN World Tourism Organization in a press release.

But the UNWTO says even with the increased occupancy rates, bookings to Thailand's Andaman coast, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are still substantially lower than before the tragedy and it will likely be 2006 before a full recovery takes place.

Recovery at beach resorts hit by the tsunami has been sluggish. Official statistics show arrivals to Thailand's Phuket still down by 50% in August, while October arrivals to the Maldives were down by 23% and foreign guest nights along Sri Lanka's south coast were down by 53% in August.

But resorts in all three countries are reporting bookings for December and January between 80-90%.

Shortage of rooms is also a problem. Phi Phi Island in Thailand only has 400 rooms available compared to 2,000 before the tsunami and in Khao Lak fewer than 500 of the 6,000 rooms have been reopened.

Indonesia 's tourist facilities were not damaged in the tsunami but a terrorist attack on the island of Bali in October drove tourism down once again by an estimated 37% that month. Officials are hopeful that the recovery will be quicker than following the 2002 Bali bombings, due to stepped-up security and improved communications.

( www.usatoday.com)