Tourists rush to Bali after tsunami

Tourists rush to Bali after tsunami

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Every cloud has a silver lining, so the saying goes, and
Indonesia's tourist industry may prove to be the unintended
beneficiary of the tsunamis that crushed several popular tourist
destinations in Malaysia and Thailand.

State Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik said in a
press conference on Thursday that the country would welcome some
100,000 foreign tourists, who initially planned to go to Phuket
in Thailand and Langkawi in Malaysia, in the next few weeks.

"We received requests for destination switches in the last
couple of days," he told reporters.

As some tourists may come from countries which are not
eligible to get a visa on arrival, the tourism office has asked
the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to arrange an ad hoc
visa-on-arrival policy.

The visa-on-arrival policy was introduced in February for 22
selected countries. The government waives the visa requirement
for tourists from nine other countries, including members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the basis of
reciprocity.

Citizens of countries who are not on either list must apply
for a visa at the Indonesian Embassy in their respective
countries.

"It's difficult for them to change their vacation dates, so we
will give them a visa on arrival in this situation," said Jero.

The Agence France-Presse reported that thousands of Japanese,
Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese tourists had canceled their New
Year's holidays in Southeast and western Asia after tidal waves
raged shores and killed more than 80,000 people last Sunday.

Paradise beaches turned into a tourist nightmare when walls of
water, triggered by an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter
scale off Sumatra, pounded resorts and swept away everything in
sight.

The northern resort island of Penang, where 66 bodies have
been discovered so far, is the worst hit area in Malaysia. Two
beaches in another well-known tourist destination, Langkawi
island, were reported to be damaged by the tsunamis. The airport
and resorts in other beaches, however, have been unscathed.

Thailand's resort island Phuket, which would normally be
packed with tourists in the holiday season, was also badly hit.
The death toll in Thailand is feared to soar from the current
confirmed figure of 1,975 to nearly 7,000, as thousands of Thais
and foreigners are still missing.

Although Indonesia has seen at least 52,000 people killed in
the calamity, not many tourist destinations were destroyed.
Activities at favorite island resorts, such as Bali and Lombok in
West Nusa Tenggara, have been unaffected.

AFP reported that travel bureaus in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong
Kong were now offering other alternatives to travellers, but many
had just given up their holiday plans.

"Most of them (tourists) preferred to ask for a refund as they
are scared and are not ready to travel yet because of the
disasters," Chan Mok-seng, executive director at Hong Kong's
Morning Star Travel Service, was quoted as saying.

The Taipei Association of Travel Agents said that Taiwanese
who were going ahead with their holidays opted for packages to
Japan, South Korea, and China.

Several airlines, namely Orient Thai, Korean Air, Asiana
Airlines, and Taiwan's China Airlines and Uni Airways, have also
temporarily suspended flights to Phuket.