War and SARS adversely affecting tourism: BPS<\/p>\n
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The current war in Iraq coupled with the outbreak of a
\npotentially deadly pneumonia-like disease, Severe Acute
\nRespiratory Syndrome (SARS), are threatening the country's
\ntourist industry, which is still struggling to recover from the
\nimpact of the Oct. 12 Bali terrorist attack, the Central Bureau
\nof Statistics (BPS) said.<\/p>\n
\"The number of tourists visiting Bali has been on the decline
\nsince the war broke out last month,\" Slamet Mukeno, the deputy
\nchief of BPS, said in a press conference on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Slamet said that number of tourist arrivals at Ngurah Rai
\nairport in Bali, which is a barometer of the industry nationwide,
\nwas recorded at 2,500 per day from March 1 to March 20.<\/p>\n
But, after the war broke out on March 20, the number of
\ntourist arrivals at the airport dropped to 2,300 per day, he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
\"The figure was recorded from March 21 to March 29 or after
\nthe war, showing that the war may have contributed to the decline
\nof tourists in Bali,\" said Slamet.<\/p>\n
Several industry leaders previously warned that foreign
\ntourists might cancel their plans to visit Indonesia and other
\ncountries in the South East Asian region due to the war and the
\nreactions to it here.<\/p>\n
Massive protests in Indonesia against the U.S.-led war in Iraq
\nhave created a sense of unease among would-be foreign visitors
\nthat they could become a target of anti-western protesters here.<\/p>\n
Another factor is in terms of transportation. Since the war
\nbroke out, airlines, particularly those from Europe, have had to
\nre-route several flights to avoid the conflict in the Middle
\nEast, thus raising transportation costs. More Significantly,
\nSingapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, among others, have
\ncompletely canceled many routes due to SARS.<\/p>\n
In addition to the war in Iraq, the outbreak of SARS in Asia
\nhas apparently also put people off from traveling around the
\nregion, especially by airlines.<\/p>\n
A senior official at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture had
\npreviously warned that the impact of SARS on Indonesia's tourism
\nindustry could be more damaging than the war.<\/p>\n
The above two factors look set to once again bring down the
\ncountry's tourism industry, which has just started to recover
\nfrom the devastating impact of the Oct. 12 attack, which had
\nkilled more than 200 people mostly foreign tourists.<\/p>\n
The tourism industry is seen as a crucial sector for the
\nIndonesian economy particularly as exports had slowed down amid
\nuncertainty in the global economy.<\/p>\n
Since the terrorist attack in Bali, the government had
\nlaunched various programs to help the tourism industry recover.<\/p>\n
Indeed, there were some positive signs. \"The number of
\ntourists visiting Bali in February increased by 8.97 percent to
\n72,000 in February from the previous month's 66,000,\" said BPS
\nchief Soedarti Surbakti.<\/p>\n
In November last year, or one month after the bomb blasts, the
\nnumber of tourists who visited Bali was recorded at 35,107.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia
\nincreased in February by 3.73 percent to 289,800 from 279,400 in
\nthe previous month, BPS said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/war-and-sars-adversely-affecting-tourism-bps-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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