0 China, Australia priority for tourism promotion

Tourism stakeholders will continue to promote the island’s tourism this year to China and Australia as the two top markets that con-tribute the largest share of tourist arrivals. Herdy Sayoga, deputy chairman of Balivillage Association — an integrated organization that coordinates all components of tourism, said that the association would start its promotional activities next month by going to Australia to hold a roadshow, followed by Germany in March and another roadshow before joining the major tourism event ITB Berlin. 

“We will still promote to our conventional markets, like Australia and Europe, but we will also focus on new markets, like China and ASEAN countries. We will go to China in June,” he told Bali Daily on Wednesday. He said Australia would remain a promotion priority. The association will offer new and different attractions to potential tourists in the country. According to the provincial Tourism Agency, the growth in tourists arriving in Bali from Australia sharply plummeted in 2012 recording only 684,312 people in the January–October period, or 3.7 percent growth on the same period the previous year. 

One of the reasons cited for this fall was the country’s improving economic condition, with a strengthening exchange rate against the American dollar, which encouraged many Australian tourists to go to more distant holiday destinations, such as Europe, the US and Asian countries like South Korea, Japan, China and India. Herdy said his association would intensify promotions in China by cooperating with a number of travel agents to provide holiday packages from China to Bali. 

“China is a big, significant market for us nowadays. We will focus on attracting the high-end society there to come to Bali.” To improve tourism conditions on the island, he suggested the provincial administration maintain a healthy business climate in the sector, as the industry was currently bearing a heavier burden, including the increasing price of electricity. “If the tourism business climate in Bali is not good, the local people will not reap the benefits.” 

Ngurah Wijaya, chairman of the Indonesian Tourism Businesses Association in Bali, said that the association had provided some program and strategy recommendations for tourism promotion to the provincial and central governments. Among the activities that would be carried out by the association’s stakeholders were sales missions aimed at introducing Bali and its destinations. 

“We expect the provincial and regency administrations to focus on improving infrastructure and the condition of facilities at destinations. It’s the most basic and urgent matter.” He also expected that the tourism sector in Bali could rebuild its image by promoting its culture. The promotion of Bali’s tourism attractions by the provincial administration will not be as wide and intensive as last year, since the provincial administration has cut the budget due to other priority programs. 

The budget has been slashed more than half, from Rp 2.3 billion (US$240,000) last year to only Rp 1.1 billion this year. Wijaya said he regretted that the allocated budget for tourism promotion kept decreasing each year, while the island had to face tougher competition from other destinations. “We hope that this year the administration could establish the Provincial Tourism Promotion Board, and we hope there would be more budget allocated for promotion through this board.” 

Bagus Sudibya, deputy chairman of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agents (ASITA) Bali, expected the administration to focus on developing community-based and culture-based tourism, instead of concentrating on the mushrooming new budget hotels that had badly affected the island’s tourism. “The focus of tourism development this year should be how to improve the livelihood of local people in less developed areas, like in north and east Bali. These areas also have potential destinations.”

source : bali daily