Tourists Shun Bali: Jakarta, Indonesia

By Wombat | February 15th, 2006 | 4 Comments »

Over the last few days, I have read numerous articles in all the media about Bali coming out of the slump it is in. An article in the Business section of the Jakarta Post begs to differ and state the tourist numbers remain low.

Foreign tourists continue to shun resort island Bali
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite the government’s efforts to promote tourism on Bali island following the bombings last October, the number of foreign tourists visiting the island remains low.

Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said Monday that the average number of foreign tourists coming to the island was now only 3,674 a day, while the hotel occupancy rate averaged 31.58 percent during the first week of this month.

“The number of foreign tourists is far lower than the 5,000 per day recorded in September 2005,” he said during a hearing with the House of Representatives’ tourism commission in Jakarta.

He did not give the hotel occupancy rate for last September, but, according to the Indonesian Hotels and Tourism Association, it averaged 90 percent.

Jero said that from Oct. 2, 2005, through the end of January 2006, the average number of foreign visitors to the island stood at only about 3,000 a day, while the hotel occupancy rate averaged 38 percent.

Although the physical damage caused by the attacks had been repaired, Jero said that the fear resulting from the tragedy meant that for many Bali was no longer considered a “safe and comfortable destination”.

The terrorist bombings in October last year, which killed 23 people, were the second series of blasts to hit Bali. The first occurred in October 2002, and killed more than 200 people, mostly foreigners.

Minister Jero predicted that the Bali tourism industry would start to recover in April after a more aggressive advertising campaign this month.

“We are sending a delegation to Australia this month, consisting of representatives of the tourism boards and the police, who will explain the improvements that have been made to security in Indonesia,” he said. “Private sector actors involved in the tourist industry will allowed to join the road show.”

The road show, he said, was part of the “Bali Recovery Program” aimed at restoring the image of Bali. This program would include the establishment of a media and public relations center, an advertising campaign, the offering of family package tours, and the staging of supporting events in Bali.

The advertisements, promoting Indonesia as the “Ultimate in Diversity”, would be published in international magazines and newspapers such as Time, Businessweek and Newsweek, and broadcast on TV channels like CNN, Star World and CNBC, he said.

The ministry had allocated Rp 67.3 billion (US$7.3 million) for the program out of the overall tourism promotion budget of Rp 100 billion. The rest of the funds would be used for improved security (Rp 16 billion), immigration services (Rp 7 billion) and oversight (Rp 3 billion).

The Rp 100 billion forms part of the total budget of Rp 624 billion allocated to the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
Jero also said the government was targeting $5 billion in foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector this year, up from last year’s $4.5 billion