Negative reports drive dent in Bali tourism mart

Negative reports drive dent in Bali tourism mart

By Devi M. Asmarani

NUSA DUA (JP): Bali, Indonesia's most famous tourist
destination, saw a 15.7 percent drop in the number of foreign
tourist arrivals in the first half of this year to 489,877
visitors, effected by the country's negative image.

Tourism here may not have suffered the same level of adversity
as the rest of the crisis-blown country but the drop has
significantly cut the revenues of the island, which is often
called the island of the gods.

The regional director of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and
Culture, Luther Barrung, pointed at the increasing international
media coverage on political and economic affairs as one factor
that has contributed to the decline.

"The negative issues on Indonesia has badly affected the
growth of foreign tourist arrivals here this year," Luther told
reporters here.

Data from his office shows that foreign tourist arrivals rose
by a mere 6.4 percent year-on-year to 88,579 people last January.

But as the regional crisis worsened and Indonesia's political
and social tension heightened, arrivals declined.

Like the rest of the country, tourism hit rock-bottom in the
aftermath of the May riots which hit Jakarta and several
neighboring towns and which led to the resignation of president
Soeharto.

Many countries issued travel advisory notes, discouraging
their citizens to visit Indonesia. Some countries continue to
discourage them.

As a consequence, foreign tourists to the island drastically
dropped in May by nearly 29 percent to 6,326 visitors from those
in the same month last year.

In June, which is usually the start of the peak season, the
number of tourist arrivals in Bali fell by 35 percent to 67,437
compared to June 1997.

This dealt a significant blow to the island, base to 30,665
rooms belonging to 90 star-rated hotels and 1,283 non star-rated
hotels.

This year, the office recorded a continuous drop in the
average occupancy rate in Bali.

Luther said the average hotel occupancy rate in January fell
to 51.27 percent compared to 57.45 percent in the same month last
year.

By April the average slightly picked up to 62.60 percent, but
was still lower than the figure in April 1997.

But the average rate is slowly picking up and the island
expects another high season which will peak in August.

The vice president of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant
Association, Feisol H. Hashim, said occupancy rates of four and
five-rated hotels were currently about 50 percent in the Sanur
area, 55 percent in Nusa Dua and 75 percent in the Kuta area.

The general manager of the Sheraton Nusa Indah hotel, Lothar
R. Pehl, said the occupancy rate at his hotel was 7 percent to 8
percent in May, but now it had rebounded to 40 percent and 50
percent.

The culturally rich Bali has been evolving since the 1960s to
cater to tourism, making its economy highly dependent on the
sector.

A study by the tourism office shows that tourism contributes
42.2 percent of the province's gross domestic product.

Pehl expressed optimism that Bali would remain one of the main
tourist destinations in Asia.

"We have people out there that think Indonesia is all dark and
cloudy, but changes happen everywhere and usually bring positive
results," he said.

"No country can guarantee total safety. What happens on a dark
street in Jakarta is no different than in Germany," he said.

Bali's main markets are Japan, Australia, Britain, Germany and
Taiwan.

The rupiah's 80 percent drop against the U.S. dollar since mid
last year has attracted visitors from countries unaffected by the
crisis.

However, several Asian countries such as Japan were also
experiencing significant depreciation in the value of their
currencies.

Several hoteliers admitted that Japanese visitors, which made
up 240,245 people out of the total 2.15 million foreign tourists
to Bali last year, had decreased this year.

An American researcher based in Tokyo, Paul Stares, who
arrived here for a 10-day visit said the currency drop was a very
attractive offer to eventually lure people to visit certain parts
of Indonesia.

"I am very concerned about what else is happening in
Indonesia, but I think Bali is stable," Stares, who arrived
Friday with his wife and three-and-a-half-year-old son, told The
Jakarta Post.