Be kind, say tourism chiefs - island is 'still quite normal'

Indonesian tourism officials yesterday urged the world's media to paint as positive a picture as possible of the situation in Bali, and not to overplay the impact of Saturday night's suicide bomb attacks.

The anticipated mass exodus of foreigners had not happened, security had been stepped up and the island's tourist facilities were operating as normal, Bali Tourism Board chairman Bagus Sudibya told a press briefing in which he warned against drawing too many comparisons between the weekend's terrorist attacks and those of October 2002, in which 202 people, including 11 from Hong Kong, died.

'In spite of the tragedy ... compared with 2002 it is a slightly different situation. It is still quite normal,' he said, pointing to the number of tourists still visible on the streets, and to hotel occupancy and airline arrival rates that have dipped only slightly following the attacks.

Occupancy levels had dropped by between seven and 12 per cent in the main tourist areas and were hovering at around 60 per cent, whereas in 2002 they had fallen to between zero and 10 per cent.

Arrivals had dropped by about 1,100 a day, while departures had risen by less than 20 per cent. Departures from the island doubled in the aftermath of the attacks three years ago.

'We are very confident that people will understand the situation. They are being more realistic because this is not the first time this has happened, and it is not just happening in Bali. [Terrorism] is unfortunately becoming almost a part of our lives.

'We hope through [the media's] help that Bali will recover very soon. If we have a decline of about 10 per cent, this will be quite acceptable and within three months we expect the situation to return to normal.'