Balinese hope PATA conference lifts Bali's image

The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

The 52nd annual conference of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) ends its five-day conference on Thursday. Bali, which hosted the conference, hopes that the international event has helped improve the island's image as a safe tourist destination.

Bali, long renowned as peaceful holiday island, has been struggling since the terrorist bombing in Kuta last Oct. 12 which killed nearly 200 people.

That terrorist act has drastically changed life on Bali, many of whose three million residents rely on the tourist industry for their livelihoods.

The bombing has crippled the island's tourist and tourist- related sectors, which were the island's main economic pillars along with agriculture and textiles.

And as Bali was still reeling from the bombing, another blow was landed: the war in Iraq, which has hit the global tourist and aviation industries.

Adding to these woes is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which began in China and spread to other countries in the region, including Hong Kong and Singapore.

Under the weight of all these problems, Bali is having trouble living up to the title "The Sun of the World", as Indian statesman Jawaharal Nehru once called it.

The people of Bali hope the PATA conference has helped the island recapture the confidence of the world. The conference is in fact being seen as a sign to the wider world that Bali and Indonesia are recovering, which might explain the buoyant and optimistic mood of the meeting.