Bali quiet after annual school vacation

Bali quiet after annual school vacation

By I Ketut Suarja

DENPASAR, Bali (ANTARA): The school vacation is over, students
are back at school and Bali is once again deserted.

A number of popular destinations in Bali such as Tanah Lot,
Alas Kedaton, Kintamani, Sangeh, Kuta, Sanur, Tampak Siring
palace and the mother temple Besakih in East Bali are now very
quiet.

In the Tanah Lot area, 32 kilometers southwest of Denpasar,
only a dozen foreign visitors admired the 16th Century Hindu
temple and its pristine surrounding.

During the recent school vacation (between July 1 and July
16), this favorite tourist site was packed by thousands of
visitors a day, mostly school students and local tourists, said I
Wayan Darma, a local resident.

In another holiday spot Alas Kedaton, 24 km away, only a few
foreigners gawked at the hundreds of monkeys in the forest.
During the vacation, hundreds of people came to the forest each
day to enjoy its natural beauty and the unique rural lifestyle to
be found in Desa Kukuh village in Tabanan. Now, the number has
decreased to only a few dozen visitors a day.

Even in the highly popular Kuta Beach, famous for its white
sand and huge waves, there are only a few foreigners to be seen
sunbathing and surfing.

In Sangeh forest, where hundreds of monkeys freely roam
around, only a couple of buses and private cars were to be seen
in the parking lot. "Most of them are foreign tourists with only
a few being local guests," explained I Made Budiada.

Some of visitors posed in front of the historic Hindu temple,
built in the 17th century, which is located in the middle of the
20-hectare forest.

Since the economic crisis and social and political upheavals
first started in l997, the number of visitors coming to Bali and
other holiday resorts in Indonesia has been sharply falling.

Bali was hit hard in l999 when a riot, fueled by supporters of
a certain political party, resulted in the burning down of
government offices and the destruction of public facilities.
Sectarian conflict in the neighboring island of Lombok in West
Nusa Tenggara also seriously wounded the tourist industry both in
Lombok and Bali.

Frequent outbreaks of rioting and violence in Indonesia have
discouraged foreigners from taking their vacations in Bali,
Lombok and other parts of the country.

The tourist industry revived somewhat when thousands of
schoolchildren and their parents spent their two-week school
vacation in Bali.

Hotels, restaurants and holiday sites were jam-packed by these
local guests. An average of 3,000 to 5,000 people visited each
holiday destination in Bali.

During the vacation period, hundreds of buses, trucks and
private cars had to wait for 8 to 10 hours before they could
depart the Ketapang (Banyuwangi-East Java) and Gilimanuk (Bali)
seaports respectively.

A large number of non-star hotels also made a killing and were
packed with local guests from various cities in Java, Madura and
Lombok.

I Made Budastra, owner of the Aget Jaya Hotel in Denpasar,
said that he received reservations a few months before the
vacations.

"Teachers and students from outside Bali had booked out every
room," he smiled.

I Nengah, an employee at the Catur Adi Hotel, said he was glad
to see a lot of guests in the hotel.

"We often panic when the vacations come around because the
hotel doesn't have enough rooms to accommodate the increasing
number of guests," said Nengah.

But, the vacations are now over. Bali is back to 'normal' and
is eagerly anticipating even more guests during the coming
Christmas, Idul Fitri and New Year vacations next December.

For the time being, innkeepers, tour operators and local
people must again work hard to lure back foreign visitors to this
holiday island although the prospects will remain bleak for so
long as the current political bickering continues.