Nearly US$450 million (S$650 million) of the package will go to the vital tourism sector still reeling from the impact of a week-long closure of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport last month as it was blockaded by anti-government protesters.

'If businesses fail, it will cause damage to the country,' Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-Archa told reporters on Thursday after a meeting with private tourism operators.

'We have already lost 100 billion baht (S$4 billion) in revenues and more than two million tourists from the airport closure,' Mr Chumpol said.

His comments came as newly-installed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced the government's stimulus package of 300 billion baht, or about 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), to jump-start the economy.

It must first be approved by Parliament, where Mr Abhisit's coalition has a slim majority.

'The plan will be announced in January and the budget needs to be approved by the Parliament first and it is expected that the money could be injected (into the economy) from March or April,' Mr Abhisit told reporters.

The Thai government is desperate to help the country's ailing economy which has been projected this week to grow by only 1 per cent next year.

The double blow from the global slowdown and the airport blockade during the peak tourist season has many economists drawing comparisons to the 1997 Asian financial crisis when the Thai economy shrank 10.5 per cent.

But Mr Abhisit said yesterday that tackling Thailand's current economic problems will be a 'tougher job' than dealing with the 1997 crisis because 'this time around you have both the economic and the political dimensions'.

He has vowed to take legal action against the leaders of the protesters who staged the airport siege, including some members of his Democrat Party. 'They have to proceed according to the law and there will be no interference,' he said.

'I made it very clear even before that any MPs who joined the protest would do so in their own capacity. They would not be allowed to use their MP immunity privileges.'

Mr Abhisit also expressed confidence that he could deliver a maiden speech to Parliament on Monday, despite threats by supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra to prevent lawmakers from getting in.

Yesterday, he urged Thaksin, who is in exile overseas, not to incite unrest in the kingdom ahead of this Sunday's mass protests planned by the opposition 'red shirts' group.

Mr Abhisit's shaky multi-party coalition government, formed after the courts dissolved the former ruling party, has made reviving the economy its top priority, in particular the tourism sector. Tourism directly employs 1.8 million people in Thailand and brings in the equivalent of 6 per cent of GDP, making it a major economic driver.

The US$4 billion Suvarnabhumi airport handles more than 100,000 passengers and outbound cargo worth around US$85 million each day.

Mr Abhisit said the Thai people regretted the airport seizure which badly tarnished Thailand's image as a tourist destination.

Mr Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said he expected 12 to 13 million foreign tourists next year, well below the 16 million projected by the Tourism Authority of Thailand before the airport siege.

Mr Apichart said that normally Thailand welcomed 8,000-12,000 foreign tourists a day during the peak season that started last month, but the number fell to 5,400 after the airport shut.

Analysts say the stimulus plan could help counter the slowdown in exports and inflow of foreign investment. But much will depend on how it is carried out. 'First, we have to see how fast it can stimulate the economy,' said Professor Sompob Manarungsan, an economics professor at Chulalongkorn University.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

See Asia