Asian regional travel group cancels conference in Banten

Asian regional travel group cancels conference in Banten

Associated Press, Bangkok

Safety concerns after the past weekend's terrorist bombing on Indonesia's Bali island have caused the cancellation of a major Asian tourism conference scheduled to be held in the country next week, organizers announced Wednesday.

The Bangkok-based Pacific Asia Travel Association, the region's largest travel industry group, had planned to hold its first PATA Sustainable Tourism Conference in Banten, near the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

As late as Tuesday afternoon, PATA had expressed determination to go ahead with the meeting. "The normal business of our daily lives should not be derailed by such terrible acts," PATA's president, Peter De Jong, had said.

However, "the upgraded travel advisories imposed on Indonesia by Australia, Germany, U.K., and the U.S. governments have caused a significant number of our speakers and delegates to cancel their participation," De Jong said in a news release issued Wednesday.

After the bombing killed almost 200 people Saturday night at a nightclub popular with young travelers, many countries have issued strong warnings about travel to Indonesia.

Fallout from the Bali attack is expected to have a devastating effect on the region's vital tourism industry.

Other regional countries with extremist Islamic movements - including Malaysia, where suspected militants are believed to have quietly plotted attacks in the region, and the Philippines, where rebels are armed and active - are expected to suffer more than others, such as Thailand.

PATA said it still plans to hold its much bigger annual conference in Bali next year.

The group said its vice president for development, Peter Semone, is in Bali to help Indonesian tourism officials manage the crisis, and that PATA would help Indonesian national tourism officials deal with the problem in the longer term.