The devastating earthquake and the following tsunami, which plagued the Indian Ocean countries onSunday, will have limited impact on regional economy, analysts estimated.

According to local media reports on Monday evening, the damage will be confined mainly to the tourism sector with industrial production and trade-related infrastructure being unaffected thanks to their inland location.

Analysts from a local research institute said that sea lanes were not disrupted while ports, as well as oil and gas facilities on the eastern side of Sumatra, an Indonesian island, suffered no damage.

However, as the tsunami slashed the region at the peak of the tourism season, its impact on the region's tourism sector, with Thailand in particular, will be considerable.

Economists said that with the financial help from the United States and the World Bank, regional tourism is expected to recoverin about six months, and the light tourist infrastructure in the affected coastal areas can be rebuilt fairly quickly.

As for Singapore, its economy appears to have virtually spared the catastrophe with no infrastructure such as ports, tourist resorts or industrial production facilities damaged.

Analysts estimated the impact on Singapore's tourism to be minimal, saying that as tourists coming to the region are expectedto change their destination, they are trying to figure out whethermore people, who can not go to Thailand's resort island Phuket anymore, will stop by the island state.