Air reservation system hurting Bali<\/p>\n
Rich Simons, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
In an astonishing case of one rotten apple spoiling the whole
\nbarrel, an obsolete airline reservation system in the country
\ncould cost Bali millions of dollars over the next two weeks
\nalone.<\/p>\n
Despite crisis-level hotel occupancy rates since Oct. 12 and
\ncalls from tourist associations and ministers to pull together to
\nassist with recovery efforts, there could be a shortfall of at
\nleast 20,000 wealthy visitors who actually want to go to Bali
\nduring Christmas and New Year's.<\/p>\n
These travelers come from the cities of Jakarta, Medan and
\nMakassar and consist mainly of expatriates and middle class
\nIndonesians.<\/p>\n
While State Minister of Tourism and Culture I Gede Ardika has
\nbeen working tirelessly in an effort to jump-start tourism --
\neven touring Europe and pleading with travel agents to book
\nflights to Bali -- and with the Minister of Foreign Affairs
\nurging governments to ease travel advisories, and the hotels,
\ntour operators and some domestic air carriers offering huge
\ndiscounts, the computer reservation system has failed, resulting
\nin thousands of well-heeled holiday makers and their families
\nmost likely detouring to Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand instead
\nof their first and favorite choice -- Bali.<\/p>\n
There has been a big push to attract current residents of
\nIndonesia, but only a portion will be able to get to Bali and
\nspend money in the hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops and pubs
\nas a result of the flights snafu.<\/p>\n
It is an outright debacle that the travel industry here is
\nunable to accommodate them while the actual hotel occupancy rate
\nremains at record lows.<\/p>\n
The mathematical calculation is elementary. Tens of thousands
\nof international tourists are staying away, hurting Bali
\neconomically but opening a rare opportunity for the expatriate
\ncommunity here.<\/p>\n
The current expatriate population of Jakarta alone has
\nrecently been estimated at some 20,000. During normal years
\nexpatriates know that Bali is fully booked with international
\ntravelers, but this year is different.<\/p>\n
Most expatriates who have remained here are obviously not
\nafraid of the terrorists and with the excellent hotel promotions,
\nBali is more attractive than ever. The same goes for upper and
\nmiddle class Indonesians.<\/p>\n
Do the math. For example, if one or a combination of airlines
\nadded 6 wide-bodied planes into the mix for a just a short period
\nin late December.<\/p>\n
That would equal roughly 18,000 more seats (6 planes with over
\n300 seats x 10 days). If each of these passengers stayed 10 days
\nand spent an average of $150 a day -- the average according to
\ntourist association data -- that equals a whopping US$27 million
\nextra dollars injected into the Bali economy in a matter of
\nweeks, the equivalent in rupiah terms of some Rp 243 billion.
\nThat figure does not include airfares, so the airlines could turn
\na handsome profit as well.<\/p>\n
The problem as explained to the The Jakarta Post by Mahendra
\nSiregar, expert advisor at the Office of the Coordinating
\nMinister for the Economy, involved would-be passengers or travel
\nagents making double, triple and even quadruple bookings for a
\nsingle seat, thereby making the flights \"seem\" to be overbooked
\non the computer system.<\/p>\n
While expatriates who are still here should be one of the
\ntargets for domestic tourism, it is currently easier for them to
\nfly out of the country during December with their families than
\nto get to Denpasar, even though they are being offered extremely
\nattractive hotel rates.<\/p>\n
Travel agents in Jakarta become utterly exasperated, in most
\ncases, as soon as they hear the word Denpasar. Their colleagues
\nin Bali are offering every deal possible and there is a huge
\ndemand from domestic travelers especially on the Jakarta-Denpasar
\nroute in December, but the flights are artificially overbooked
\nand little is being done about it.<\/p>\n
Merpati, Bouraq and the smaller airlines do not have the
\ncapacity to make much of a difference. Garuda has done many good
\nthings in this regard, but they could have done better if indeed
\ntheir top priority was Bali's recovery. They are, admittedly,
\nfacing a fairly serious cash crunch, so they are limited in what
\nthey can do. According to a six-page report from Garuda's
\nCorporate Communications Department made available to the Post,
\nthey have had to let go of three leased jumbo jets that were
\nbeing used for international flights to Australia, Japan and
\nEurope. They have also reduced some domestic routes, but added an
\nextra flight per day from Surabaya to Denpasar. In addition, they
\nhave upgraded their aircraft to wide-bodied planes on their 6 to
\n7 daily flights from Jakarta to Denpasar.<\/p>\n
Mahendra also added that Garuda was still in the process of
\ntrying to fix the reservation system, and that there was a good
\npossibility of adding a few more daily flights for the peak
\nseason starting this week. In fact, he even optimistically stated
\nthat \"every person who wants to go, will get on a flight ...\"<\/p>\n
The confusing reservation system is much like Jakarta's
\nnotorious traffic congestion. While there are many more vehicles
\non the roads, a huge portion of the problem could be solved
\nthrough coordinated efforts to clear the roads of street vendors
\nand cars parked illegally on the side of the roads blocking
\nentire lanes of traffic.<\/p>\n
The bottom line is that if people really want to go to Bali,
\nthe only option is to keep trying. If a traveler has the time and
\nthe endurance, to get on a waiting list (just ONE please, do not
\ncall 5 different agents and get your name booked 5 times or
\nmore), then go to the airport and push your case with whomever is
\nwilling to listen or can get you on to a flight.<\/p>",
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