TravelMole Comment: Why is Jakarta picking on Bali?
DENPASAR –Given the events affecting Bali over recent months, the island’s tourism leaders might be under the impression that the central government in Jakarta is doing all it can to hinder Bali’s appeal to international visitors.
For some considerable time, the government, through its Customs agency, has been squeezing Bali dry of alcoholic beverages, so much so that visitors might struggle to find a decent bottle of champagne to toast the festive season this year.
Even worse, tourists might be forced to raise a glass of the local pink plonk instead of the Veuve Clicquot.
New import rules, due in February, will bind many imports, including alcohol and some foodstuffs, in even more layers of red tape.
The provincial government has weighed in by cutting Bali’s tourism promotion budget for 2009 by 25 percent. Instead, the provincial rulers say, the funds will be use for health and poverty eradication programmes.
According to the , the island’s tourism industry could suffer a significant downturn in 2009 due to the budget cut.
“We have already experienced the first signs of the crisis in the tourism sector, with cancellations and low reservation levels,” said Aloysius Purwa, chairman of the Balinese branch of the Association of Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies.
Head of the Balinese Tourism Agency, Gede Nurjaya, said the agency would manage the budget cut by shifting its focus to markets in neighbouring countries, especially Singapore.
“We will be more selective in organising promotional campaigns in foreign countries. We will focus on the Asian countries,” he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, has come under attack in Nusa Bali after calling for easy acceptance of the controversial anti-pornography legislation signed into law last week.
According to Nusa Bali, Bali’s only representative in the presidential cabinet is being roundly attacked by local legislators and tourism professionals for failing, in the words of his critics, to fully understand his own root culture.
The new law is ostensibly aimed at curbing the availability of pornographic material in Indonesia, but many Balinese argue that the new regulations could see packs of vigilantes roaming the streets looking to crush displays of “porn†– such as cultural dances, semi-naked statues or Russian models sunbathing on the Kuta beach.
-by Ian Jarrett
Ian Jarrett
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