Senior Japanese tourists enjoy the beauty of Bali

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Rita A.Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Ubud, Bali

When bombs rocked Bali on Oct. 12 last year, the 70-year-old Otake Kenji, a retired man from Japan, was on a luxury liner on its way to the island. At that time, he was on board with hundreds of other Japanese elderly planning to spend several days in Bali.

But they never reached the island as the ship's skipper decided to continue on to Australia after learning about the tragedy.

"Now, I am here with all of my friends. I really miss watching the Kecak dance and other Balinese traditional performing arts," said Kenji with a bright smile on his wrinkled face.

"This is my third visit to Bali and I always want to come here whenever possible," he added.

Kenji is among the 450 participants of Holiday Cruise Asuka arriving at Padang Bai harbor in Karang Asem, East Bali on Monday morning.

In the last few years, luxury liner arrivals were an everyday thing in Bali but after the Oct. 12 blasts, when Bali was deserted by foreign visitors, the arrival of 450 Japanese tourists is really something and is important to improve the shattered image of Bali's tourism industry.

Tourism has been the economic backbone of Bali and has helped Indonesia overall, generating more than US$5.7 billion in revenue every year. Bali has contributed the majority of the tourism revenue but the tragedy has caused many potential tourists to cancel their planned trips for security reasons. Soon, the number of visiting tourists, dropped drastically. The number of Japanese tourists visiting Bali ranked the second after the Australians.

The arrival of the M.S. Asuka Cruise with its 450 passengers, organized by Japan-based Apex Tours, could at least show to the world, especially the Japanese, that Bali is still a safe holiday destination.

"We really love Bali and we decided to travel to the island despite our country's travel advisory," Kenji said.

Naomi, a 53-year-old lecturer at the University of Keio in Tokyo, even brought her elderly parents on the visit. Naomi and her 76-year-old mother Yukiko said the visit to Bali was their childhood dream.

"This is our first visit to this beautiful island, we always dreamed of coming to Bali someday in our lives and our dream has come true," said Naomi, who teaches Japanese language to foreign students, including Indonesians.

She said her son visited Bali in September 2002. "He urged me to come to Bali which he said was really a remarkable place," Naomi said.

Since last October, a number of countries, including Australia, Japan, the United States, Britain and other European countries have imposed travel warnings against their citizens who plan to travel to Bali and other places in Indonesia.

State Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gede Ardhika and a number of prominent figures in Bali's tourism industry have vowed to carry out all-out promotional activities to attract more tourists to the island.

"Soon after the Bali blasts, we contacted all embassies and travel institutions around the world to convince them that Bali is still safe. We also asked related governments to revoke their travel advisories," Ardhika said.

Given the importance of this visit -- considering that more than 100 luxury cruises from around the world had canceled their trips to Bali since last October, Ardhika and several high- ranking officials went to Padang Bai to privately welcome these senior tourists.

To ensure the safety of these special visitors -- the first large Japanese group to visit the island after the bombing tragedy, the local police guarded the harbor. The cruise liner arrived on 9 a.m. on Feb. 10.

At Padang Bai Harbor, the participants of the Asia Grand Cruise 2003 were given the state's VIP treatment. Six beautiful Balinese traditional dancers greeted them with charming performance.

Y. Marimoto, general manager of the MS Asuka Cruise, said many Japanese elderly preferred spending their winter holidays in warm places like Bali and other places in Southeast Asia. Before arriving in Bali, the Cruise stopped in Vietnam and Singapore.

"The majority of Japanese, especially the elderly, have heard of the beauty of Bali, its people and its rich culture and tradition," he said.

The Japanese visitors were later divided into several groups. One of the groups was heading to Kintamani resort in Bangli, the other went to the famous Ubud paddy-fields in Gianyar and Nusa Dua resort complex near Denpasar.

"I think, Bali is still as beautiful and safe as in the previous years. Nothing has changed," Kenji said.

The Japanese government, he said, still includes Bali as watched-over holiday destinations. "Actually, I was worried but when I arrived here, everything seems okay," Kenji said.

Fumiyo Kamiya also felt insecure whether he and his wife could travel to Bali. "But I feel very happy especially when seeing the marvelous landscape and unique traditions and culture," he said.

He hoped the Balinese maintain the island's safety and beauty of its nature and traditions. "We promise to come here again someday, hopefully," he said.