Bali businessmen launch initiative to recover tourism

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Kuta, Bali

Tourism industry players in Bali will launch a campaign to regain the island's attractiveness for world travelers, who have shunned the island following the Oct. 12 terrorist attack.

Chairman of the Bali Chamber of Commerce and Industry I Gde Wiratha told The Jakarta Post that Bali businessmen had decided to join hands to launch the campaign aimed at assuring world travelers that Bali was safe.

"We have decided to move ahead of the government with our own program. We don't need theories and words, all we need is something concrete," said Wiratha, whose bar, Paddy's, was targeted in the bomb attacks.

The "Bali for the World" program was jointly set up by the Bali Tourism Board, the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) and the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI).

Wiratha said the program came following the businessmen's disappointment over the government's apparent slowness in drawing up a concrete recovery program after the bombing.

At the end of October, the government unveiled a three-phase plan to help rebuild the island's tourism industry. The first phase is called the rescue period which runs from October to December 2002. It will be followed by the rehabilitation phase from January to June 2003 and the normalization period from July to November 2003.

Programs in the three phases will put stress on improving products, marketing and promotions, as well as assessing social impacts from the tragedy.

However, according to Wiratha, Bali tourism industry players had yet to see concrete action from the government.

"The industry needs to be rescued immediately, or else it will collapse, leaving thousands of people jobless. Therefore we took the initiative to set up our own immediate recovery program," said Wiratha.

The program, scheduled to be launched on Dec. 15 this year, consists of hundreds of international events, including golf and jetski tournaments, art and cultural exhibitions, food festivals and the New Year's countdown.

The event will run until the end of 2003.

As a short-term impact of the program, Wiratha said he expected that foreign countries would no longer consider Indonesia as a risk and would not warn their citizens against traveling here.

"In the short term, the program would focus on improving the image of Bali," Wiratha said.

Following the Bali bombing, 16 countries issued travel bans and warnings for all parts of Indonesia, resulting in a sharp drop in tourist arrivals.

Last week, the government estimated foreign tourist arrivals would dip 16.5 percent to 4.3 million for the year 2002 compared to 5.15 million in 2001. The figure will be the lowest number of foreign arrivals in six years.

Wiratha declined to provide any figures on the costs of the program but said all Bali industry players had contributed.

The organizing committee, which consists of businessmen, has also signed agreements with local and foreign parties such as with Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia, allowing the latter to contribute to the campaign.

"We don't beg for money from the government. All businessmen in the tourism industry have sincerely contributed," Wiratha said.