Bali bets on recovery as peak season draws close

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.