By Ben Stocking
Mercury News Vietnam Bureau

PHUKET, Thailand - Just one month after the Asian tsunami battered the tourist mecca of Phuket, life is back to normal across most of the island -- with one glaring exception.

The tourists are gone.

Residents, desperate for jobs and money, want visitors to return -- right away.

``Please come back,'' said Metta Kankhow, who lost her job at a beachside restaurant and now sells fruit from a street-side stand. ``Come back to Thailand.''

The tsunami caused roughly $250 million in property damage in Phuket, said Pattanpong Aikwanich, president of the Phuket Tourist Association. But the falloff in tourism during January and February -- the high season -- is expected to cost $500 million.

Several small hotels with beachfront bungalows were wiped out, but many larger hotels suffered only minor damage. Some never closed, some have reopened already and others expect to be operating again within two to six months.

Most of the island was untouched by the tsunami, which slammed the western shore but left Phuket City and 90 percent of the island just as it was.

``Even now we are ready to welcome the tourists,'' Aikwanich said, explaining that only 5,000 of the island's 35,000 hotel rooms were lost. ``Unfortunately, they don't understand that we are ready.''

Hotel occupancy has plummeted from the usual high-season rate of 90 percent to just 10 percent.

Thai resorts ready, eager for return of tourist dollars, continued