| |
Visa changes darken Bali's happy holiday
recovery
By Gary
LaMoshi
DENPASAR, Bali - It was a merry Christmas
and a happy new year for Bali. Tourists packed hotels to enjoy
a peaceful tropical idyll during the festive season, giving
Balinese reason to celebrate during their own Galungan and
Kuningan holidays this month. More than half of the families
on the island earn their livelihoods from tourism; some
estimates put the figure as high as 80 percent. This joyous
beginning may prove to be the high point of 2004 for the hub
of Indonesia's tourism industry and the spokes it supports.
Bali's hotels enjoyed high occupancy rates for the
holidays, according to hospitality-industry sources. But
that's nothing new for the island's traditional high season
(along with the July-August Northern Hemisphere summer
holidays). Holiday makers packed Bali even in December 2002,
just weeks after bombs ripped through Kuta killing more than
200 people, most of them tourists (see
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/DJ15Ae01.html
Indonesia bombed into awareness, October 15, 2002).
In
2002, though, those tourists were mainly Indonesians.
Different this season "was a marked increase in support from
international markets", according to Bali Hotels Association
chairman Robert Kelsall, "giving a glimmer of hope that a
recovery from some key international markets is imminent".
Those overseas markets are critical for Bali and for
Indonesian tourism, an industry that brings the nation more
foreign exchange than any industry except energy.
Back to the future
After the October 12,
2002, Bali bombings, foreign tourist arrivals on the island
throughout 2003 stabilized around the levels of 1997-98,
www.balidiscovery.com reports, or about 25 percent below 2000,
the last year free of the impact of September 11, 2001, and
subsequent terror attacks. Even those figures may fail to
capture the full impact of the decline (see
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/EJ10Ae01.html Bali
plots its recovery ... someday, October 10, 2003).
Bali Discovery president director J M Daniels
estimates that crucial Western markets remained down 30-60
percent from 2000 levels during this festive season. Kelsall,
whose association - previously known as Casa Grande Bali -
represents 54 leading hotels, agrees: "Certain markets are
certainly depressed, in particular some key European markets
where travel advisories [against visiting Bali] still exist"
such as Britain, traditionally Bali's leading European Union
source of tourists.
Visitors from Asia, notably
Taiwan, have taken the places of some Western tourists in the
visa lines at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport.
Compared with Westerners, Asian vacationers tend toward
shorter stays and group tours, meaning rock-bottom prices on
hotels and other services. Domestic tourists visit even more
briefly and spend less than foreigners. So shortfalls in
tourism revenue generally are greater than the 25 percent drop
in foreign arrivals suggests.
Indonesian tourism
officials share Kelsall's optimism about recovery in overseas
markets. The government has set targets of 5 million overseas
visitors and $5 billion in foreign-exchange revenue for 2004.
This year's target was revised downward to 4.6 million, and
actual figures expected in a few weeks will likely fall just
short of that goal.
The magic of Bali
tourism
In calling for approximately 5 percent growth
in tourism, the Indonesian government apparently believes in
miracles. Legislators slashed the Ministry of Culture and
Tourism's promotional funding request by 68 percent to Rp113.5
billion ($13.5 million), far below major ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) rivals' budgets. More ominously,
Indonesia will hold legislative elections in April and
separate presidential voting, most likely requiring two more
trips to the polls. Two people died late last year in northern
Bali in clashes among party faithful. More electoral violence
is likely across the sprawling Indonesian archipelago, and
this will not encourage tourism even if it's a thousand
kilometers away from Bali; one hidden consequence of the 2002
bombing is that tourists now know Bali is part of Indonesia.
Given budget constraints and the demands of democracy,
lower spending and the electoral uncertainties may be
unavoidable. But the Indonesian government has chosen to go
out of its way to discourage foreign tourism.
The
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, which runs the
immigration counters at ports of entry, announced on January 2
that it will introduce new rules for tourist visas on February
1. The new policy narrows the list of countries and
territories eligible for free 60-day visas on arrival from 48
to 11. The new preferred list excludes most major sources of
tourism in Indonesia, such as Australia, Japan, the United
Kingdom and Taiwan, while including lightweights Chile, Peru,
Morocco and Vietnam.
Passport holders from another 20
countries plus Taiwan can buy visas when they arrive, $10 for
up to three days, and $25 for up to 30 days (down from 60
days); everyone else must apply at an Indonesian embassy or
consulate before arrival. Various reasons have been advanced
for the policy change, from generating funds to computerize
the Immigration Department to reciprocity - granting the same
visa privileges to other countries that they grant to
Indonesia - to the rumor that Justice and Human Rights
Minister Yuzril Ihza Mahendra wanted revenge after being
forced to remove his shoes before boarding a plane in
Australia.
Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gede
Ardika, the only Balinese in the cabinet, is calling on the
government to reconsider the implementation date, as is the
hospitality industry. "We are saying 'the time is not right!'"
Kelsall explains. "Bali Hotels Association has been
petitioning the government, along with other tourism
stakeholders, to try and delay implementation of the visa fee
until tourism has properly recovered and other obstacles, such
as travel advisories, have been removed."
Kelsall, who
is also the general manger of Kuta's four-star Bali Dynasty
Resort, cites a survey in member hotels that found 30 percent
of guests would seriously reconsider coming to Bali if they
faced a visa fee. Letters to balidiscovery.com also indicate a
negative impact on tourism from the new rules. One travel
agent calls the visa changes "good news for Australia and
other competitor destinations", and others cited the expense,
particularly for a family of four or more.
"What are
you guys thinking?" one letter writer asked the Indonesian
government. Whatever it may be, the authorities in Jakarta
aren't thinking about helping Bali and the nation's critical
tourism industry overcome the uncertainties it faces and build
toward sustainable growth. In other words, visa rules may
change, but it's still business as usual.
(Copyright
2004 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact content@atimes.com for information on
our sales and syndication policies.)
|
|
 |
|
