Indonesia fears tourism decline after bomb attacks
Indonesia could face a decline in tourist arrivals this year as a dozen countries issued travel advisories following a spate of terror attacks in Java and Sumatra
Unlike some previous attacks, no tourist areas were targeted but tourism minister Arief Yahya still expects arrivals to drop by up to one million this year.
Australia, Singapore, the US and Malaysia are some of the countries which have issues advisories.
Suicide attacks targeted Surabaya and Sidoarjo, East Java killing at least 26 and on Wednesday four sword-wielding men were shot dead after attacking a police station in Riau.
A policeman was also killed in this latest attack.
All the attacks involved whole families including young children.
Arief said the impact could be at a similar scale to last year’s decline when Bali’s Mount Agung threatened a large eruption.
It is a blow to the industry as Bali was just getting back on track after months of uncertainty over Mount Agung and it comes just ahead of the busy July-September peak season.
Figures for February and March 2018 showed positive tourism growth thanks to deep discounts offered by Bali hotels and tour operators.
However there is little prospect of Indonesia reaching its target of 17 million full-year visitor arrivals for 2018, which was a tough ask even before the latest series of terror attacks.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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