Bali becomes Chinese tourist destination

Bali becomes Chinese tourist destination

By Rini Utami

DENPASAR, Bali (Antara): China has made Bali one of its main tourist destinations for its nationals wishing to spend their holidays in Indonesia.

Since the opening of Indonesia-China economic and trade cooperation in 1985, followed by the thawing of relations between them in 1990, Bali now has the opportunity to enchant visitors from China.

Around 27 million Chinese tourists travel annually to several Asian countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia but rarely spend their holidays in Indonesia because of complicated immigration procedures here.

"The number of foreign tourists coming to Indonesia from China is relatively small, only about 14,000 people a year," said I Gede Ardika, now minister of culture and tourism.

Their contribution, said Ardika, averaged between O.32 percent and O.75 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting Indonesia.

In fact, in 1999 the number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia was only 14,742 people, a decline of 57.05 percent compared to the previous year, which saw 34,327 tourists.

Most of the tourists from China choose Bali to other regions of Indonesia as a holiday resort because of its natural beauty and unique culture compared.

Chief of Bali's regional office of the Department of Tourism and Culture, Luther Barrung, expressed his optimism that Bali, which was already noted as an national and international tourist destination, has great potential in attracting tourists from China.

"In principle, Bali is ready to receive the influx of tourist from China now that the two countries have opened economic and trade relations particularly in the tourism sector," said Barrung.

Cultural and religious oriented tours have been Bali's trade mark. Natural beauty and cultural richness are the island's main attractions to compete with other countries like Malaysia and Singapore in winning Chinese tourists.

Barung said that Bali, however, should consider reviewing its tourist facilities and supporting infrastructure to prepare for the influx of Chinese tourists, estimated at 50 percent of the total the Chinese visitors to Indonesia.

The facilities concerned comprise hotel rooms, restaurants and travel agencies to accommodate and handle the flow of tourists.

Presently, Bali has 1,022 star and non-star rated hotels with a total of 17,000 rooms in star-rated hotels and 15,000 rooms in non-star-rated hotels. This number can accommodate tourists for another three to four more years. In future, to accommodate an estimated five million foreign tourists per annum, Bali will require another 10,000 rooms.

The readiness of Bali's tourism sector to welcome the influx of tourists from China was expressed by the chairman of Bali's office of the Indonesian Travel Agencies (ASITA), I Gusti Bagus Yudhara.

"With a total of about 200 travel agents, the Bali ASITA will be ready to anticipate the influx of tourists from China," he said.

Based on the agreement, signed by the Indonesian and Chinese governments in l994, ASITA will coordinate Indonesian travel agencies which deal with their Chinese counterparts. Indonesia will choose seven travel agencies and the Chinese government will select 12 travel agencies to handle the travelers from China.

In reality, the central government has violated the agreement and set up a consortium consisting of 10 travel agents without any approval from ASITA.

"This was a real violation of the memorandum. We are still waiting for instructions from ASITA's headquarters to assign Bali-based travel agencies," he said.

Plans to attract the Chinese tourist market has yet to be thoroughly studied, he said.

Chairman of the Bali regional committee of the Indonesian Association of Tour Guides I Made Sudira noted his skepticism saying that China is probably be one of our potential tourist markets, yet it is still a long way from obtaining large revenues from their arrivals.

"We know how much their income per capita is, so to expect them to be our biggest contributor in the tourism sector is only wishful thinking," he said he pessimistically.

If Indonesia is planning to expand its market to mainland China, it should decide whether its objective is to increase the number of tourists or to improve the quality of tourists visiting Indonesia.

Made said the choice of travel agencies should be of first priority if we want to improve the quality of tourists.

He went on to say that Indonesia also has to provide qualified tour guides to serve these tourists.

Currently Bali has 2,950 official tourist guides. However, these guides will face some linguistic difficulties.

Meanwhile, chairman of Bali's office of the Hotel and Restaurant Association I Gede Wiratha said, the rise in Chinese tourists only increases the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia, but not its quality.

Compared to European and American tourists, the spending capacity of the majority of Asian tourists, including those from China, is lower.

"Tourists from Europe and America have an average spending capacity of between US$300 and $500 per day while tourists from Asia, including China only spend on the average $100 per day," he maintained.