It's Bali, it's New Year, but beaches deserted

It's Bali, it's New Year, but beaches deserted

It's Bali, it's Christmas, but beaches deserted
Achmad Sukarsono
Reuters
Bali

It should be the height of the season in Bali.

In past years, tourists from around the world besieged the
holiday island at Christmas and New Year to surf, party or laze
beside the pool.

Not this year.

At a five-star resort normally packed during Christmas, few
people were sunbathing, no one was cooling off in the luxurious
pool and the golf course was empty.

"It has been like this since the bombings. The rich are afraid
of death so they just choose to go to other places," said a staff
member at one of Bali's top hotels.

At least 190 people, about half of them Australian tourists,
died in the Oct. 12 Kuta nightclub bombings.

A year ago, those nightclubs were packed with revelers. This
year, the site of the blasts is a memorial to the dead and is
among the most visited places in Bali by tourists and Balinese.

Near the blast site, T-shirts on sale read "F**k Terrorist".
It is a message that sums up the anger Balinese feel towards the
perpetrators of bomb attacks that largely destroyed Bali's vital
tourism industry, threatening livelihoods and blackening the
island's image as the perfect holiday paradise.

"In November, we had only 15 percent (occupancy rate)
throughout Bali," said I Gde Pitana, head of the Bali Tourism
Authority.

"In the second week of December, we are usually fully booked,
but now, in certain (popular) areas like Kuta, it is around 70
percent and in the other parts of the island it is still below 20
percent."

Pitana is optimistic Bali would rebound six months after the
tragedy, arguing massive media coverage of the incident had been
a boon in terms of free advertising for the island.

"The tragedy has put Bali on a high position. Nobody blames
Bali. And the progress achieved by the police is incredible," he
said referring to the arrests of a number of key suspects.

But while few people blame Bali for the tragedy, that view has
yet to bring back tourists haunted by fear of more attacks.

Foreign tourist arrivals reached their lowest ever in November
since records began in 1997. In Novermber, there were only 31,000
tourists, compared with the pre-blast figure of about 100,000
tourists per month.

Ernst Jenni, 63, an agricultural engineer from Switzerland,
said he and his wife felt no threat during their trip to Bali,
their first.

"It's a pity all these very nice facilities are not being
utilized. It's lovely. The locals are friendly. Much more people
should take the chance," he said, after he and his wife took a
swim at the upmarket Nusa Dua resort strip southeast of Kuta.

The couple were the only visible Western tourists on the beach
that is normally filled with tourists in December.

Siti Hidayat, a 37-year-old Chinese-Indonesian garment
executive from Jakarta also said she felt safe.

"Things can happen anywhere, anytime. I even can bring
children," she said, tending to her toddlers on the largely
deserted Kuta beach.

In Australia, a group of young tourists was also undeterred
about visiting Bali.

"I think it's safe to go there. I think the chances of it
happening twice are very remote," said a South African couple
holidaying in Australia.

Three young, female British backpackers, who were going to
Malaysia after Australia, said they would be happy to visit Bali.
"We'd still go there. It's probably the safest place to go right
now," said one of the group.

While much of Australia remains traumatized by the attacks on
a place the nation regards as its own, an increasing number of
Australians are showing interest in returning after an initial
blitz of mass cancellations directly after the bombings.

The Flight Centre travel agency firm said Australians were
returning because they had a close affinity to the resort island
to their north.

"We're coming into the peak holiday season and seats (to Bali)
are quite tough to get," said Haydn Long, an agency spokesman.

"What's driving the push back to Bali is that a lot of people
have a very close affinity to the place.

"They've traveled there frequently before, they have a love
for the destination and the people, and want to see it get back
on its feet again," Long said.

Sean Morrison, a senior travel adviser for STA, which
specializes in the youth market, shared that view.

"It's still actually hard to get to Bali over Christmas. I
think people who were always going to Bali are still going back
there, the hardcore types, the people who have gone there every
Christmas," he told Reuters.

Whether that renewed interest translates to a sustained
rebound in Bali's fortunes in the coming months is unclear. In
the meantime, ordinary Balinese are suffering.

Taxi driver I Wayan Sinta, 62, said he had never seen so few
tourists since he started driving holidaymakers 30 years ago.

"In one month now, I only can get two decent trips. Usually, I
can get some everyday. I don't know how can survive. I have debts
here and there now."

In a row of souvenir shops in Jimbaran Bay, where five-star
chains like the Ritz-Carlton, Inter-Continental and Four Seasons
have resorts, shopkeepers were either playing cards or cutting
vegetables.

"Nobody comes here anymore, let alone buy anything, especially
because local tourists don't go to this area," said Ni Luh Nanik
as he made ritual offerings from young coconut leaves.

At a wood carving workshop in the central Bali artists'
village of Ubud, owner I Made Budiarsa said most of his 75
craftsmen often sleep around huge chunks of log during working
hours.

"Usually we get heaps of orders, but now, after carvings are
done, no order comes in. So we don't know what to do. If you make
something now, the risk is we can never sell it," he said, adding
business was at its worst since the shop opened 20 years ago.