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.