Australians begin returning to Bali

Australians begin returning to Bali

Associated Press, Sydney, Australia

Five months after two terrorist bombs killed 202 people on Bali, Australian travelers are returning to the Indonesian holiday island, a travel company said Tuesday.

Eighty-nine Australians died in the Oct. 12 blasts. The attacks also devastated the island's tourism industry, which was largely supported by Japanese and Australians.

Travel agency Flight Center Ltd. said Tuesday that young Australian tourists were showing renewed interest in Bali, with inquiries about travel there rising 50 percent during the past two months.

"The interest showed in Bali right now indicates to us that the island is poised to regain its pre-Oct. 12 appeal within months," said Flight Center general manager Sue Rennick.

The resurgence comes despite Canberra's refusal to lift travel warnings advising Australians to avoid going to Indonesia except on urgent business.

Rennick said recent Indonesian tourism figures showed the number of overseas visitors arriving in Bali slumped from 5,500 to 700 a day immediately after the bombings.

The figure has risen to 2,000 a day in recent weeks, and was expected to reach 3,000 by June, she said.

Flight Center also said Indonesia's Garuda Airlines and Australian national carrier Qantas, the two major airlines servicing the island, would both significantly increase their flights to the region within weeks.

In the past two decades, Bali has recast itself from a sleepy, offbeat island favored by backpackers and surfers to a tourist haven for honeymooners, college kids and middle class families. The tourists come for the beaches, nightlife and the temples dotting the predominantly Hindu island.