|
|
ECONOMY: Bali Bounces Back, Slowly
By Fabio Scarpello
KUTA, Indonesia, Oct 10 (IPS) - These days an unexpected high tide or a flaw in the perfect blue waves, that lap gently at this famed beach, is enough to make tourists, as well as local people, jumpy.
''The gods are angry for the bombs. We usually know when a high tide is coming and we were not expecting this one,'' said Jimmy, as high tides on the weekend narrowed the 15-metre strip on sandy beach crowding together visitors and vendors.
Jimmy, 36, is regarded a permanent fixture on the beach having paced up and down the sands for more a decade selling non-permanent tattoos.
Ten days after the second round of bombings in three years spilt innocent blood on the 'Island of the Gods', the big unasked question on Jimmy's and everybody else's lips is -will this misery go on?
Mysticism, fatalism and pragmatism are mixed into the collective response to the tragedy, but as the full impact of the bombing is yet to be gauged, anxiety for the future is beginning to show.
''I am not sure what is going to happen. I am worried that tourists will stop coming, like after the first bomb. If they don't come, how will I feed my family?'' asks Jimmy, who has three children to support.
The first attack on Oct. 12, 2002 killed 202 people and maimed many more. Tourists evacuated en masse and did not return for a long time, devastating the local economy. The last round resulted in fewer casualties but was no less terrifying.
Official data shows tourism contributing six percent to Indonesia's 258 billion US dollar economy and employing eight percent of the total workforce. But most of the activity is concentrated on Bali and the nearby island of Lombok, where 65 per cent of the workforce is, in one way or another, dependant on tourism.
After the 2002 bombings, arrivals at Bali's international airport dropped from an average of 5,000 a day to less than 1,000. Hotels and restaurants were almost empty and taxi drivers and street sellers competed hard for custom.
A survey conducted on the island by the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank in early 2003 showed a 25 percent decline in household incomes.
It took over a year for Bali's 1.2 billion dollar tourism industry to recover, though it must be said the island did-only to wake up to the idea that bombings may be a recurrent phenomenon.
And the realisation is dawning that Bali is indeed an exotic Hindu island of four million people sitting smack in the middle of the world's most populous Muslim country - and that at a time when a 'war against terror' is being waged by the West in Muslim countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.
A militant faction of Jemaah Islamiyah is said to be behind the restaurant bombings. The group, linked to the international al-Qaeda network, was responsible for the 2002 nightclub attacks in Bali, the 2003 bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta and the 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
In the first nine months of the current year, roughly 1.5 million tourists visited the island, which is a six percent increase over the last year. The airport was receiving a daily average of 4,000 arrivals and hotel occupancy had soared to around 80 percent.
But, the true impact of the bombings on holiday-makers may only be felt at the end of the year when the season peaks in Bali and it will be known whether the regulars have turned to alternative destinations.
Following the latest attack, on Oct 1, delegates from 80 countries attending a United Nations World Tourism Organisation conference in Iguazu (Argentina), called for the world not to abandon Bali again, but the response has been mixed.
While testimonials of support have poured in, the governments of Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, to mention a few, have issued travel warnings against Bali.
According to the Bali Research and Tourism Development Unit, the hotel occupancy rate is still at 80-90 percent.
Yet, some travel agencies have reported a 50 percent cancellation or postponement on holidays booked and worried hotel managements are advertising free massages and other incentives.
The potential negative impact of the bombing on the Balinese economy was made worse by the massive hike in the fuel prices, following the government decision of cutting subsidies from Oct.1.
Anz, (one name) who works at Milagro Internet café in Legian (Kuta), is not sure how he will cope.
''Whether tourists will come or not come, I have to pay my bills, and in the meantime the price of the petrol has doubled and food prices may also go up. We will see what happens,'' he told IPS.
Analysts believe the increase in fuel prices could have a cascading effect on the prices of other goods and push the country's inflation to double digit figures.
The bombing has also raised big questions about Indonesia's security which could lead to a decline in foreign investments, as noted by Indonesia's National Development Planning Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati. ''With this event, I think it will be hard for us to convince the international community, especially investors, that Indonesia is indeed a safe place,'' she said.
Italian born Guido Beretta, who runs a high quality coffee factory and a high tech milking shed in Bali, said he had to stop further projects for security concerns.
''At the moment I cannot ensure my investors that it is safe here, so I am forced to postpone the setting up of ten more milking sheds,'' he told IPS, adding that leaving is not an option.
''I have been living in Bali for over ten years. I have 40 local staff and no one will lose their job. I expect some difficult months ahead, but this island is my home''. (END/2005)
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
What is RSS?
