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Bali tourism loses Rp 9t after 36-day alert status: Minister
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Evacuate: Bali residents fleeing from Mount Agung's eruption arrive at Lembar Port, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on Nov. 29. Some residents chose to stay with their families in Lombok. (JP/Panca Nugraha)
T
he government is likely to miss its target of 15 million foreign tourist arrivals this year as a result of the Mount Agung eruption in Bali, the country's main tourist destination.
The best that can be hoped of the target will be around 93 to 95 percent fulfillment, about 14 million, said Tourism Minister Arief Yahya at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday.
If Bali has to be closed because of the eruption, tourism will lose US$360,000 per day. "Now it has been 36 days since the alert status and we have lost Rp 9 trillion [$630 million]," Arief said.
Read also: Bali airport reopened on Wednesday afternoonHe explained that Bali received about 15,000 foreign tourists per day, and in the peak season – from August to December – the figure could increase to 20,000.
"This natural disaster seriously affects tourism. This period is supposed to be the harvest time," he said, adding that each foreign tourist had an average spend of $1,200 per person with an average stay of four days.
Currently there was no technology that could forecast when the eruptions would end, he added. (bbn)
