TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Going all out to save Bali tourism as threat eases
On a mission: Workers from the local sanitation and environment agency, dressed in costumes, hitch a ride on a bulldozer while clearing trash on Kuta Beach following a monsoon in Badung regency, Bali, on Wednesday
Change Size
O
span class="inline inline-center">On a mission: Workers from the local sanitation and environment agency, dressed in costumes, hitch a ride on a bulldozer while clearing trash on Kuta Beach following a monsoon in Badung regency, Bali, on Wednesday.(JP/Zul Tri Anggono)
The rumbling Mount Agung, the highest point on Bali, is 75 kilometers away from the tourist hub of Kuta and 52 km from Ubud, an iconic landscape known for its rainforest and terraced rice paddies. Any eruption would impact an area within only a 10-km radius of the volcano’s crater.
However, there have been growing false perceptions, particularly on social media, that the eruption could engulf the entire resort island, similar to the eruption that wiped out the ancient city of Pompeii, which is located in what is now Italy.
The closure of Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport from Nov. 28 to 30 due to volcanic ash, leaving thousands of foreign tourists wanting to leave the island stranded, amplified fears of vacationing in Bali.
This is despite the fact that the airport has resumed normal operations and that the nearby international airports in Surabaya, East Java and Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) could replace Ngurah Rai airport if volcanic ash again threatened to
disrupt flights.
The rumbling volcano has crippled tourism in Indonesia as officials scramble to find ways to ease worries over the safety of vacationing on the Island of the Gods.
The Tourism Ministry has estimated a whopping US$1.2 billion in potential losses for Bali’s tourist sector this year from the impact of the increasing volcanic activity since September.
The Tourism Ministry’s immediate priority is luring tourists to Bali, as Indonesia will still bank on the island to help attract 17 million foreign visitors next year.
As many foreign visitors have decided not to celebrate their year-end holidays in Bali because of the volcanic activity, the government has confirmed it could only lure 14 million foreign tourists, just short of the target of 15 million, this year.
Consequently, central and regional governments have worked together with stakeholders in Bali’s tourist industry to disseminate information that the island is safe to visit.
“If the airport is closed, I’m going to take care of your accommodation and transportation. I will move my office to the airport,” Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika said recently at an event attended by tourism stakeholders.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo decided to revoke Bali’s emergency response status on Friday to ease fears as the volcano’s seismic activity calmed.
