New fears for tsunami-hit resorts	刚遭海啸又遇地震 东南亚旅游业何时走出阴影？
Phuket beach before the Boxing Day tsunami A powerful earthquake in the Indian Ocean, so soon after the Boxing Day tsunami, will be a big setback for the region's plans to revive tourism. An earthquake 125 miles off the coast of the Indonesian island Sumatra triggered tsunami warnings. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India issued tsunami warnings, but fears of a tsunami seemed to subside after around three hours and they were scaled down. The earthquake struck at 16:09 GMT at a magnitude of 8.7. This was 11:09pm local time. There were reports of many deaths in the Indonesian island of Nias, south of the earthquake's epicentre. Tourism in the region is likely to be affected whether or not the earthquake leads to tsunamis. "As a direct result of the (Boxing Day) tsunami there is a risk that 9% of international travellers planning a holiday in 2005 have switched their travel plans to other regions," says a report published earlier this month. The "Post-Tsunami global travel intentions" report, commissioned by the intergovernmental World Tourism Organisation (WTO), highlights how those worst affected by the tsunami have also been the ones hit by the sharpest falls in visitor numbers. "Since the tsunami disaster, there has been a significant drop in international travel to affected tourist destinations such as Phuket in Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives," says James Murray, executive with Visa International Asia Pacific, which co-authored the report. （Agencies)	去年圣诞节次日爆发的海啸刚刚平息，印度洋海域又发生了一场强烈地震，使该地区旅游业的复兴计划严重受挫。 此次地震发生在距印尼苏门答腊岛海岸125英里处，还引发了海啸警报。 印度尼西亚、斯里兰卡、泰国和印度等国都发布了海啸警报，但大约三小时后海啸引起的恐慌渐渐平息，警报也逐步解除了。 地震发生在格林尼治标准时间16点零9分，当地时间晚上11点零9分，震级为里氏8.7级。位于震中南部的印尼尼亚斯岛报告有大量人员死亡。 不管地震是否会导致海啸，该地区的旅游业都有可能受到影响。 本月初发布的一份报告指出：“12月26日的海啸造成的直接影响是，大约有9%的外国游客为避免风险调整了2005年的度假计划，改变了旅游目的地。” 这份名为《海啸后全球旅行意向》的报告是由政府间国际组织“世界旅游组织”负责制作的，报告强调，那些受海啸影响最严重的地区也是旅游者数量下跌最惨的地方。 “自从海啸灾难发生后，那些遭袭的旅游胜地的国际旅游事业出现了大滑坡，如泰国的普吉岛，斯里兰卡和马尔代夫群岛。”亚太地区国际签证处主管人员、报告合著者詹姆士·默里说。 （中国日报网站译）