U.S. to lift travel warning to Bali

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 09/03/2007 2:08 PM  |  National

Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

The U.S. will soon lift its travel warning to Bali as the Ngurah Rai international airport has met international security standards -- a move that will hopefully give a considerable boost to tourism.

Chadik Wibowo, the aviation security manager of state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I at Ngurah Rai, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) informed him the U.S. government would soon lift the travel warning to Bali.

""You will receive good news shortly,"" Chadik quoted Mc. Quai -- an official at the TSA headquarters in Washington D.C. -- as saying during his visit to airports in the U.S. from Aug. 12-24.

Chadik was told the proposal to withdraw the travel warning to Bali had been lodged with the U.S. parliament and ""it was just a matter of time"" before its official announcement.

TSA is an internationally recognized U.S. government agency that was created in response to aviation security threats after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack.

In December 2005, it advised airline passengers to avoid Ngurah Rai airport because it did not maintain and administer effective aviation security measures and failed to meet the security standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Transportation minister Hatta Radjasa protested the assessment and announcement made by TSA on Ngurah Rai, saying that it should be the ICAO, not TSA, that had the authority to conduct such an assessment.

Chadik said PT Angkasa Pura I had made concerted efforts to improve infrastructure and human resources pertaining to security management. In July 2006, Ngurah Rai was named the best Indonesian airport in terms of security by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) after increasing the number of security personnel by 300 percent from 211 in 2005 to 705.

TSA's position, however, remained unchanged.

Angkasa Pura finally asked the TSA to reassess the airport and an assessment was conducted from March 26 to April 2.

""The results are satisfying.""

In June, an audit conducted by the Transportation Ministry placed Ngurah Rai as the best Indonesian airport in terms of aviation safety and security, surpassing Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.

The airport now employs 820 security personnel and has placed X-Ray devices to screen all cargo.

Despite travel warnings and advisories, foreign tourists, including Australians and Americans, continue to arrive at Ngurah Rai. The Bali Tourism Board recorded 51,000 Americans visited Bali in 2005 and in the first half of 2007 the figure had reached 25,500.

PT Angkasa Pura General Manager Suwetja Putra said he was upbeat the lifting of the travel warning from the U.S. on Bali would contribute positively to tourism.

""We hope that after the U.S. lifts the travel warning, other countries will follow suit and more foreign tourists will come to Bali,"" he said.

He added the withdrawal of the travel warning would convince those tourists who doubted the island's security to visit.

""I am optimistic the target of eight million foreign tourists to Bali this year can be achieved.

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