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