500 tourists cancel trips to West Java

500 tourists cancel trips to West Java

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

At least 500 Japanese and European tourists have canceled trips
to West Java province, following renewed security warnings by
Western states recently, a senior member of a tour operator
association said on Saturday.

The cancellations for trips between December 2004 and April
2005 have quashed the opportunity for West Java to reap some
US$240,000 in potential revenue, said Yachya Mahmoed, the head of
the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA)
for West Java.

The tourists who canceled their planned trips came from, among
others countries, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and
Japan.

The cancellations are a serious blow to tourism in the
province, moreover the parties concerned with tourism here had
earlier worked hard to promote West Java as a tourist destination
abroad following the Marriott hotel and Bali bombing in the past
two years.

"Our hard work is fruitless. It has all gone with a travel
warning issued by some Western countries," said Yachya.

At least three Western countries -- Australia, New Zealand and
the United States -- have issued fresh warnings in the past week
that there will be terrorist attacks in the country ahead of
Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Such warnings had been commonplace since the Bali bombing in
October 2002 and some people remain undeterred by them. But, the
warnings have still had repercussions, as was evidenced with the
decision of at least 500 Japanese and European tourists to cancel
their trips to West Java.