Bali tourism devastated by restaurant bombings<\/p>\n
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The October bombings in Bali have proved to be a severe blow to
\nIndonesia's tourism sector, with the number of foreign visitors
\ndropping by nearly 31 percent to 267,800 during the month, the
\nCentral Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n
According to the agency's latest tourism statistics, the
\nnumber of overseas tourists to the popular resort island alone
\nnearly halved to 86,800 visitors after rising by 2.79 percent to
\n168,200 in September.<\/p>\n
"The bombing tragedy in Bali has seriously affected the number
\nof foreign tourists coming into the country, apart from the fact
\nthat October is usually a low season for the tourism sector as
\nwell," BPS chief Choiril Maksum said.<\/p>\n
Besides Indonesia's main tourist destination of Bali, all
\nother destination cities in the country also saw declines in
\noverseas travellers, including the capital Jakarta and Batam.<\/p>\n
Only North Sulawesi's Manado managed to show a 6.67 percent
\nrise in its foreign tourist arrivals, as 1,743 travellers were
\nstill willing to visit the province's popular offshore snorkeling
\nattraction at Bunaken island.<\/p>\n
The impacts on Indonesia's tourism sector from the avian flu
\noutbreak here have yet to be seen, said to the report.<\/p>\n
The total number of foreign tourists entering through the
\ncountry's 13 main entry points as of October totaled 3,501,077 --
\ndown by 7.76 percent from 3,795,664 during the same period last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
The government hoped to attract six million foreign visitors
\nthis year, taking in US$6 billion in revenues in the process.
\nLast year, 5.3 million foreign tourists traveled to the
\narchipelago, generating some US$5.3 billion in revenues.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's tourism sector has been experiencing hard times
\nsince the Bali terrorist bombings of 2002, and similar bombings
\nof the JW Marriott Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in
\nthe following years, all of which have served to scare of
\npotential visitors.<\/p>\n
The outbreaks of SARS and avian flu in the region at the same
\ntime, as well as the recent Asian tsunami disaster late last
\nyear, have only made things worse. And if all that was not enough,
\nthree bombs rocked Bali's two main tourist sites -- Jimbaran and
\nKuta -- in October, bringing back the horrific memories of the
\n2002 tragedy.<\/p>\n
The latest slump in the number of foreign tourists could spell
\nmore bad news for the economy, with chief economics minister
\nAburizal Bakrie previously saying that Indonesia's gross domestic
\nproduct (GDP) could drop by between 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent
\nif the October bombings resulted in a 50 percent decrease in
\ntourist arrivals in Bali and other destinations throughout the
\ncountry up until the end of the year.<\/p>\n
Tourism contributes some 6 percent of GDP and employs up to 8
\npercent of the total workforce, according to BPS data.<\/p>\n
In a similar downward trend, the average length of stay of
\nforeign tourists in star-rated hotels in 10 main tourist
\ndestinations in the country dropped to 2.03 days in September as
\ncompared to 2.15 days the previous month.<\/p>",
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