Bali MICE industry fears negative impact from SARS

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

The outbreak of a deadly new disease in two centers of Asia's MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) industry, Singapore and Hong Kong, will not automatically prompt organizers to relocate to the Indonesian resort island of Bali, an industry expert said over the weekend.

"Bali's MICE industry will not gain any significant increase just because Hong Kong and Singapore are being plagued by SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)," said Ida Bagus Lolec, CEO of Pacific World, a local MICE organizer.

Lolec said SARS had become a global health problem, threatening not only Hong Kong and Singapore but also other countries like Indonesia.

"SARS is not confined to Hong Kong and Singapore. The outbreak of SARS in the two MICE centers will not trigger potential buyers to relocate their meetings or conferences to Bali.

"Unless we launch an aggressive public relations campaign to let people know that Bali is safe from SARS, most likely the global fear of SARS will also adversely affect the island's tourist industry," he said.

Activities associated with MICE are part of the overall tourist industry, a major source of revenue not only for Bali but for the entire country.

Lolec highlighted the fact that most of the major airlines connecting Bali with the huge tourist markets in Europe and North America used Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok as transit points.

"Bali is, in fact, the last destination on their routes. Given the fact that the airlines have to stopover in cities currently affected by SARS, do you really think that Bali will receive more visitors from Europe and North America?" Lolec asked.

He predicted that SARS would prove far more damaging to Bali's MICE industry than the war in Iraq.

"When war erupted potential buyers had to think twice before boarding an airplane because of fears of a terrorist attack. Now, with SARS, they don't even dare consider traveling by air," he said.

Revenue from the local MICE industry, Lolec said, had decreased by over 80 percent since the Bali bombings in October last year. And he fears that the Iraq war and SARS will deal an even greater blow to the industry.

"Before the bombings my company was bidding on some 400 MICE requests per year. Usually, we were able to secure 120 to 150 MICE deals per year. Currently, the number is zero," he said.

Meanwhile, an exhibition organizer in Jakarta said on Friday that because of SARS, delegates from Singapore had canceled their participation in an apartment and house renovation expo last week in the capital.

PT Panorama Convex, which organized the expo, said the participants from Singapore canceled at the last minute following calls from the Singaporean government for their citizens to avoid traveling within the region.