Domestic Tourism Down in Bali

I was reading an article today where the blame for the lack of domestic tourists visiting Bali was because of the recent earthquake in Java. I couldn't see how this would affect the level but it has apparently.

Yogyakarta is not the only source of domestic tourists for Bali. In fact I would venture to say the great majority of tourists come from Jakarta and Surabaya and to a lesser degree the other cities in Sumatra and of course Java. I say this as I have spent Ramadhan and Idul Fitri in Bali for the last two years and found my assessment to be so.

Candika and I used to play a crazy game we called 'Darimana' or 'from where'. We would check out the number plates on the cars going up and down busy Jalan Legian and guess where the occupants were from. Each number plate has a designated letter signifying the origin city or place. And, a majority of the visitors were from Jakarta and Surabaya.

According to an article published in the Indonesian language BisnisBali domestic visitors to Bali during the current travel peak of Indonesian school holidays have decreased dramatically in the wake of the massive earthquake that devastated Central Java and parts of Yogyakarta on May 27 2006.

I Made Wijana, a local guide who normally handles domestic tour groups said that during school holidays like now domestic tourists from Java usually flood into Bali. Now, because of the earthquake in Java totals visitors are down. According to Wijana the advent of Indonesian school holidays would bring an average of 20 large bus every days from Java to Bali, a total that has dropped by 50% following last month's earthquake.

Another domestic guide, Eti, suggested that the tragedy in Central Java has temporarily reduced the desire of tourist from major population centres throughout Java to travel away from home to destinations such as Bali.

Supporting the view that domestic tourism is down was Robani a seller of Balinese handicrafts in the village of Celuk. He said since the earthquake in Yogyakarta we’ve really felt the reduction in domestic tourists from Java. I.A. Warsiki an art shop operator from Sukawati, interviewed by Bisnis Bali confirmed that profits and visitors are both down during the current school holiday period as compared to years' past.

Tourism will pick up in Bali but it will be a gradual process and hopefully the numbers will increase during Xmas and New Year. Preceding that there are the school holidays and the Islamic holiday of Idul Fitri. Of course there is a good possibility that the intake of Australian tourists will increase as school holiday periods occur in October.