Struggle to regain 'paradise isle' image

Struggle to regain 'paradise isle' image

Cameron Dueck, Reuters, Bali

Bali's hopes of restoring its image as an island paradise rest with tourists like Gustav Minnhagen.

The young, suntanned Swedish surfer almost switched his holiday to neighboring Lombok for fear that the trials of men suspected of the Bali nightclub bombings would prompt more attacks here. Until last October's carnage, Bali was Indonesia's premier tourist destination.

"It's not a lot of fun to worry, and it takes a lot of energy, but you still have to be careful," Minnhagen said, getting ready to hit the surf as a court delivered its first verdict in the case. Amrozi, a 40-year-old mechanic nicknamed "the smiling bomber", was sentenced to death last Thursday.

The bombs that killed 202 people, mostly foreign partygoers, also dealt a body blow to a tourist industry that provides a livelihood for 70 percent of the three million people living on this island of surfing beaches and lush rice paddies.

In the first half of this year, only 411,864 tourists came to Bali, down 39.77 percent from the 683,765 in the same period last year, according to Indonesia's bureau of statistics. In 2002, 1.35 million tourists came to Bali.

"The situation in tourism has not returned to normal. We can't reach the same level as it was two or three years ago," said statistics bureau official Rusman Heriawan.

The thought of holidaying in an atmosphere of fear and tight security on an island once known as a tranquil oasis in a turbulent region is a strong deterrent to visitors, say struggling hoteliers and other tourist-reliant businesses.

Key to a recovery is not only the return of surfers like Minnhagen, staying near once-popular Kuta Beach where the bombs exploded. Local businesses are still waiting for higher-spending package tourists to come back in force.

Robbert Van Der Maas, general manager of the luxurious 750- room Grand Hyatt Bali, says the perception of Bali that foreign governments give their citizens will play an important role in the island's recovery.

"The lifting of travel warnings will be the main factor on whether or not people will start coming back to Bali or not," Van Der Maas said.

Just over 60 percent of his US$160-a-night rooms were filled, down from 80 percent before the bombings, he said. Visitors from other Asian countries make up a larger part of the mix, replacing some of the tourists from Europe or Australia.

Occupancy at classified hotels in Bali was just 30 percent in May, the lowest among Indonesia's 10 main tourist destinations. The Aug. 5 bomb that ripped through the lobby of the luxury U.S.- run JW Marriott hotel in central Jakarta, killing 11 people and wounding 150, will not aid the recovery.

"Things were looking real good, but we don't yet know the impact of this last bombing," said Janet de Neefe, sipping tea on the veranda of her guesthouse in the hill village of Ubud, a renowned haven for artists seeking inspiration among its ornate temples and palaces and peaceful rice fields.

"We've already had a few cancellations," she said.

The 16-room guesthouse, two restaurants and Casa Luna cooking school that the Australian and her Balinese husband own have been busy during the August peak season. But she fears that later this month business will again drop to 50 percent of its normal rate.

In the first months after the bombings, de Neefe said she was lucky to have a single guest.

"Suddenly you begin to question the whole tourism thing. The industry is very fragile," she said.

That fragility is underscored by the presence of security guards at many spots that foreign tourists frequent, a sight at odds with the image of the Balinese that first attracted hippies in the early 1960s.

Paddy's Bar, destroyed by one of the Kuta bombs, has been reborn a few blocks away as Paddy's Bar Reloaded, but the guards who frisk customers at the door show the good times are gone.

The court's sentencing of Amrozi may not restore confidence.

"To me it's more dangerous than before because there are more people like him and they will seek revenge because there's still a whole network of them," said tour guide Maringan Simanjuntak.

There are some signs of revival. Not only has Paddy's reopened, but U.S. coffee chain Starbucks opened its first cafe in Kuta in June and construction is starting to cover the scars around the bomb site.

"We may be taking a risk because you never know what will happen," said Miles Chappell as he drank with friends at the new Paddy's. "But you have got to go out and have a good time because you only live once."

-- Additional reporting by Harry Suhartono in Jakarta