Japan Helps Bali Recovery Program

The Japanese government donated 20 million US dollars to help the Indonesian economy after the Bali bomb. Agreement of the donation came out on the meeting of Ministers of Cultural and Tourism I Gde Ardika and Governor of Bali Dewa Beratha with Japanese Foreign Ministers and Ministers of Transportation recently in Tokyo.

“Half of the donation, which is 10 million dollars, is hoped to be used directly to Bali’s tourism recovery program,” said Bali Government spokesperson, Gde Nurjaya. Further discussions will be held by Bali Provincial Government with the Central Government on how the money will be used and which projects will be given priority. “There are no specific conditions from the Japanese government on what the donations are for,” said Nurjaya.
Ardika and Dewa Beratha and Gde Pitana from Bali Tourism Authority made a special visit mid January for four days to Japan in order to explain security conditions of Bali after the Bali bomb last October. They also established a marketing task force to promote Bali as the ideal tourist destination.
Japan is the top market source for Bali’s tourism. In 2002, Bali received 450 thousand tourists from Japan of the total 1,3 foreign tourists visiting Bali. The Minister of Cultural and Tourism and Governor of Bali will also go to Australia, the second biggest tourist market for Bali, to explain the current conditions in Bali. (dp)