balinews While tourism in Thailand continues to suffer from its long-running political crisis, places like Bali are benefiting handsomely from the exodus of tourists. The resort island saw foreign tourist figures jump 18.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period last year. The upswing is even more surprising given that Bali's tourism has not fully recovered from the two bomb attacks that hit the island in 2002 and 2005. "This is amazing because usually it does not go up this drastically," Indonesian tourism chief Ida Bagus Subhiksu told online news site Jakarta Globe. "Bali has risen again. Australians, who accounted for the most casualties (in the bombings), now account for the largest number of visitors to Bali, besides Chinese and Japanese." Tourism officials are ascribing the influx of tourists to the chaos in Bangkok. The diversion of tourists from Thailand to Bali, they say, became noticeable early this year. "We encountered instances of sudden and short-notice bookings the most in the past three to four weeks when Thailand showed a serious death toll due to riots," said Bagus Sudibya, head of the Bali, Nusa Tenggara chapter of the Association of the Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies. He told The Straits Times that many of the tourists who had included Thailand on their travel plans, especially those from Europe, ended up staying longer in Bali. "They are unexpected customers. We are giving our best service to them, so that these tourists would feel happy and return in the future," said Bagus. According to Bali Tourism Board chairman Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, Australians made up the bulk of these tourists, followed by Europeans, particularly those from France and the Netherlands. Bali's tourism officials are optimistic that the numbers will continue to go up, even though the riots in Thailand have been quelled. Around three million people are expected to visit Bali this year, higher than the 2.6 million last year. Asia news net
