Major boost for Bali hoteliers
DENPASAR – The Little Bali Hotel & Resort Company has applauded the launch of Pacific Blue services and resumption of Garuda Indonesia flights ex-Brisbane to ‘rediscovered’ Bali in the first half of December.
LBHRC Sales and marketing manager Paul Cutler said the news from both airlines was a fantastic and a long overdue boost for Bali’s return to prominence in the market.
“I could question why GA chose to reinstate its services after closing its Brisbane offices in June 2007 – they had the perfect opportunity to establish themselves in a demand-filled marketplace,†he said.
“But it’s all good and the news is certainly a real leg-up for Bali’s hoteliers and Bali’s long suffering tourism industry in general.
Pacific Blue Airlines is expanding its international route network to include Asia for the first time. The airline will launch 11 direct flights a week between Australia and Indonesia from December 1 this year.
Subject to regulatory approval, Pacific Blue will operate direct services to Denpasar from Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.
“It will be interesting to see how things will develop from here,†Cutler said.
“These new services will place even heavier demand on a destination that readily admits it has been severely under-rated, room rate wise, for quite some time.
“But now instead of the traditional ‘rate war’ that many hoteliers have had to fight, especially in low season when times are really tight, it will be interesting to see what the airlines come up with in the long-term from the perspective of fares even before the accommodation buying begins.
“This may give the Balinese industry the opportunity to bring their room rates back to the more realistic levels the destination deserves to have as a truly established, globally-popular tourism destination.
“Bali continues to strengthen in popularity. We have already seen a 54.8 per cent increase in business from Australia from January to July of this year compared to the same period 2007,†Cutler added.
Ian Jarrett
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