A month after the bomb tragedy (1/11), there is nearly no cancellation made by foreign tourists for their trip to Bali. This condition was different from the first week after the Jimbaran and Kuta bomb that inflicted a large number of cancellations. Tourism to Bali is progressively getting better. “This condition is inseparable from the earnest effort carried out by the government of Bali Province to convince the tourists about the real condition of Bali,” said the Head of Bali Government Tourist Office, Gede Nurjaya in a press conference pertaining to the result of the road show to Japan at the media centre of Bali Tourism Board (BTB) not long ago.
Since the bomb explosion last 1 October, government officials immediately made travel to countries of principal markets of Bali. It meant to explain the situation of post-Bali bomb tragedy. “On paying a visit to Japan, it was directly led by the Governor of Bali, Dewa Made Beratha,” Nurjaya added. “We got an extraordinary appreciation from the government and tourism businessmen of Japan. We did not think that we could meet Members of Parliament whereas the cabinet was going to prepare for reshuffle.”
Remarked, several topics were discussed. For instance, a Member of Parliament highlighted the security system in Bali. They needed an improvement in it, particularly at crowded public places. “We do expect that Japan will not boost the warning for its citizens who will travel to Bali. At the moment, government of Japan stays to give precaution to be more careful for its citizen that are going to spend holiday in Bali,” he added.
In the meantime, Chairman of BTB, Bagus Sudibya added that government of Japan paid great attention to Bali. This matter was proved by discourse that did not only involve the bomb incident but developed to several sectors like agriculture and energy. “Even, the discussion also touched on the handling of aged visitors considering that Bali has appropriate ambience for them,” he asserted.
Observed, Japan side did not blame Bali on the tragedy. Bali should be able to resolve and anticipate in order that it would not happen again in the future. Even, Japan put forward that Bali did not only rely its economy on tourism sector. It proposed Bali to have another ‘locomotive’ that accompanied the tourism sector like agriculture.
President Director of Rama Tours, Makiko Iskandar, added that a month after the bomb explosion in Jimbaran and Kuta the number of booking cancellation almost did not occur anymore, even there were some new reservations for travelling to Bali. “Previously, there were some 25 to 40 % of cancellations,” she said while reminding, “even though there are some new reservations, its number is not too many. I hope that group visit in large number will resume to come to Bali.” (BTN/015)