Bali bets on recovery as peak season draws close

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A slow rise in hotel occupancy rates and tourists trickling back ahead of the holiday peak season next month are sparking hopes that the worst has passed for Bali's tourism sector, devastated by the Oct. 12 bombing.

Minister of Tourism and Culture I Gde Ardika said Bali's tourism sector might have begun to recover, led by an influx of domestic tourists.

He said that some of Bali's hotel occupancy rates had recovered to about 26 percent, from single-digits in the weeks after the terrorist strike.

International arrivals have stabilized at 700 people per day, and now the number of people leaving the island no longer exceeds those arriving. Such positive signals are emerging, even though Bali's peak season is still a month away.

"Although it (the recovery) is very small, indications show that we have passed the low point," Ardika told reporters after a media conference held by the alumnae of the Association of Indonesian Students in the United States (Permias) on Monday.

To be sure, domestic tourists account for most of the recent positive signs, while foreigners, who represent Bali's greatest market share, have yet to return.

Yet, the upturn marks a break from the slump that spread across the island's tourism sector following last month's attack.

The bomb explosions in Kuta devastated a popular nightspot crammed with foreign tourists, killing more than 190 people.

In the days after, hotel occupancy rates on the island plunged to below 10 percent, from 90 percent before the attack.

By Oct 15, international arrivals dropped to 2,833 a day, from an average of 4,650 in the two weeks preceding the bomb blasts.

But now, Ardika is betting on a steady recovery even after next month's peak season has passed.

According to him, once people have returned from an enjoyable and safe stay on Bali, the island's image will improve and more tourists are likely to return.

"If hotel occupancy and (tourists) arrivals continue to rise until Christmas ... hopefully that will have stirred enough market confidence," he said. "It'll be a turning point for the tourism sector and everything will start to move forward."

In an effort to lure back tourists, numerous hotels and travel agencies have turned to the domestic markets with a variety of discount packages.

Ardika said the return of domestic tourists would lead the turnaround in Bali's tourism sector.

Much depends on a speedy recovery of Bali, as the island makes up for about one third of Indonesia's total tourism revenue.

Last year, tourism in Bali raised some US$1.4 billion in foreign exchange income, or more than 25 percent of the nationwide total of $5.4 billion.

Also, foreign tourists eye Bali as their main destination when coming to Indonesia, meaning they might not come at all if they did not feel secure about staying on the island.

The government predicts foreign arrivals to drop to their lowest figure in six years, at about 4.3 million visitors, from the previous estimated 5.4 million this year.

Tourism accounts for 80 percent of Bali's total income and provides employment to some 40 percent of its population.

Official data shows that as of last year, 1,400 hotels and almost 750 restaurants were on Bali.

The government has also launched a recovery program for Bali, focusing on helping Balinese to cope with the slump in the tourism sector.