By Edi Utama
Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Bali is facing the problem of success tourism-wise. "Holiday-makers keep coming in, both from overseas and many places in Indonesia. There are traffic woes here, yes, but still the arrival growth gets ever strong," said Badung Regent Anak Agung Gde Agung at his office in Badung Regency's capital of Mangupura on Thursday (21/4).
Anak Agung used the words 'the problem of success' in depicting the realities the regency he leads is facing nowadays.
Badung is undisputed rich source of revenue for Bali as a whole with the revenue of 1.7 trillion rupiahs it garnered from its tourism potentials in 2010.
Badung regency occupies the largest swath of southern Bali land mass, where most of Bali tourism potentials located, including the Nusa Dua resort, Sanur, Kuta and Legian beaches, adjacent with the province's capital of Denpasar.
There are some 150 big four- to five-star international hotels in this part of Bali with Ngurah Rai International Airport locates strategically on the land's coastal rim overlooking Kuta and Legian beaches with their challenging reefs, waves and white sand.
But still there is indeed a problem of success here when the figure of visitor growth is 15 percent per year in the last five years with the supporting infrastructure has almost been stagnant. This problem is most visible especially in the province's tourism-saturated southern regions nowadays.
The world renowned Nusa Dua regions have the world-class hotels and resorts yet the 10km-road from Ngurah Rai International Airport at Tuban clogged here and there by traffic jams, causing a real unpleasant journey.
Kuta area is a household name in tourism industry worldwide and offers quite a beautiful white-sand beach and unique neighborhood. But the narrow streets present unbearably traffic jams as an endless stream of cars big and small keep entering the area both taking holidaymakers and hotel supplies.
More arrivals
Badung Regency Tourism Office head Cokorda Raka Darmawan, who was also asked for his comments at his office last Thursday, said that roughly 4,000-5,000 arrivals enter Bali through Ngurah Rai Airport on daily basis. These figures are for the ordinary and non-peak seasons calculations.
"The arrivals trend remains as strong despite there was a report by Time magazine early this month that giving quite an unexpected story on our situation here," Darmawan said, referring to the magazine's article titled 'Holidays in Hell: Bali's Ongoing Woes.'
He added that arrivals have been quite strong in the last five years. And there is no way that Bali needs to asks people not to come to the island as other destinations anywhere on the world have been paying much for advertising and promotion to lure visitors to come.
In 2006 the arrival figure was 1.23 million and grew to 1.66 million in 2007 then it kept moving upwards to respectively 1.93 million (2008), 2.22 million (2009) and last year numbered to 2.50 million in 2010. In the first two months of 2011 the arrival was registered was 403,980.
According to the arrival data, Darmawan said, visitors from Australia have been remaining the largest groups and with from China, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.
The arrival figure in February 2011 indicated that there were 59,160 visitors from Australia, 17,102 visitors from China, 16,748 visitors from Japan, 10,439 visitors from South Korea and 10,267 visitors from Malaysia.
For a place as small as Bali, especially Badung Regency, the number of visitors really is huge to accommodate most conveniently.
Different
Luh Sriasih, SPd an English teacher, says Bali may certainly not be as clean a place like many places overseas yet Bali keeps a certain kind of attractiveness where the people present their ways of life in the form of festivals held on a daily basis.
"That what makes Bali different. Bali is not only a tourism resort but also a place where daily life is characterized by spirituality whether or not there are tourists," said Sriasih who spoke after an English class she taught at the office of a media organization on Tuesday last week.
Sriasih, who works for the Denpasar office of Indonesia-Australia Language Foundation (IALF), said Australia has countless points of interest and yet many Australians have chosen to go to Bali. "So, Bali as a destination offers not just spectacular scenery, or impressive art works, but also gives certain spiritual feelings that hard to find elsewhere," she observes.
Dan Wei, guest relations manager of the New Bli Bli villa, said the unexpected negative report by Time magazine earlier this month on Bali tourism was not all that factual. So far, her villa is fully booked until the next two months after April, indicating that the report has not affected the interest of international visitors to Bali.
"No, no, business is as usual here. Guests keep coming in because, I think, they know what Bali really is," Dan Wei explained in an interview on Wednesday at her villa at Kerobokan district, which is popular with visitors from Korea, Taiwan, Australia and Europe.
Dan Wei added most travelers to Bali are repeaters so that they already know the conditions in Bali and they do not really expect to have the same conveniences or developed public facilities as they have back home.
"They know there's no MRT here so they don't expect to have this convenient means of transport in Bali," Dan Wei said.(*)
