Following PATA’s condem-nation of the October 1 Bali bomb blasts, the Association sent Vice President-Development Mr Peter Semone to the crisis area on October 2. A fluent speaker of Indonesian, Mr Semone worked with local officials and volunteers who had quickly deployed task forces to the airport and the hospital and set up a crisis information centre where he and others informed global media about the steps being taken.
Based on Mr Semone’s first-hand information, PATA put out a media report October 4 showing that 1) while some guests have chosen to leave Bali, the rate of departure has been much smaller than after the October 12, 2002 blasts; 2) hotel occupancies have only dipped slightly, but hoteliers are concerned that bookings for incentive and meetings business may be diverted; 3) there has been no cancellation of scheduled air services; 4) there is still plenty of tourist and local activity in the restaurants and streets of Kuta and Jimbaran; and 5) the colourful island-wide religious festival of Galungan will commence as usual today.
Mr Semone said: “The public and private sectors of the Balinese and Indonesian tourism community are doing an excellent job in responding to the bombings in Jimbaran and Kuta. There is a real feeling of solidarity in dealing with the situation. I have been extremely impressed.”(BTN/*)