Tourism meeting opens in Bali

Tourism meeting opens in Bali

NUSA DUA, Bali: Indonesia on Wednesday opened a two-day special meeting attended by senior officials from the region and Japan to work out ways to restore regional tourism following the Bali bomb blast in October.

"We can never predict a possible attack, we are all potential targets of that (threat)," said Indonesian Tourism Minister I Gede Ardika while opening the meeting on the once popular resort island.

The meeting is being attended by senior tourism officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), except for Laos, and from Japan.

Representatives from China and South Korea were scheduled to attend but did not show up.

The tourism ministry said in a statement the meeting was held following the Bali bombing "to take concrete steps" through ASEAN plus Three, an annual forum grouping ASEAN's 10 members with China, Japan and South Korea.

It said the meeting is expected to make recommendations to identify the multidimensional impact and decide on the strategic steps to restore tourism in Indonesia and in the ASEAN region. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The organizers said the investigation into the Bali bombing would also be discussed as well as action plans by each country. Conference sources said one recommendation to be discussed is the establishment of an information network between participating countries.

The Bali bombing in the Kuta tourist district on Oct. 12 killed more than 190 people, mostly foreign tourists.

It sparked a plunge in tourist arrivals in Bali, Indonesia's main international tourist destination, as well as to other Indonesian tourist centers. --AFP