Mt Agung. Serious stuff.

H

harryopal

Well-Known Member
I have it from a reliable source that a warning against travel to Bali is current in China until at least January the 4th. Occupancy at 5 star hotels down to as little as 10%. Staff being pushed to take holidays and management moving to other Asian countries at least for the time being.

Ramifications for the impact on the overall economy are really dire given the huge numbers of vendors and other who rely on tourism. Not looking like a happy Christmas.
 
Absolutely Harry...just driving around Legian/Seminyak in the last couple of days shows how lonely the place looks.
My wife's friend just arrived from China on one of those well advertised direct flights and said there were 7 passengers.
It will be a dire period for Bali for everyone...except imo... for us expats who live here.
Restaurants and resorts will be empty, roads will have no macet, beaches will be free of drunks.
I think of this as a golden opportunity for those who have leadership in Bali to re-focus on the future......do they want Bali to become another Disneyland or be a unique and wonderful experience of that which originated Bali as a travel paradise and gave the image of 'The Island of the Gods".
I frankly despise the Bali propensity for abusing their culture and symbolic rituals for mammon. It's time for them to take a hard look at themselves and decide.
This may be a good time for them to reflect on diversification and I hope they use wise counsel!
 
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Ya its looking like a ghost town around kuta legian area when I was driving around a couple of days ago , local people say its more quiet than bomb bali 2 ,I wasnt around here then so I cant comment .
 
davita said:
Absolutely Harry...just driving around Legian/Seminyak in the last couple of days shows how lonely the place looks.
My wife's friend just arrived from China on one of those well advertised direct flights and said there were 7 passengers.
It will be a dire period for Bali for everyone...except imo... for us expats who live here.
Restaurants and resorts will be empty, roads will have no macet, beaches will be free of drunks.
I think of this as a golden opportunity for those who have leadership in Bali to re-focus on the future......do they want Bali to become another Disneyland or be a unique and wonderful experience of that which originated Bali as a travel paradise and gave the image of 'The Island of the Gods".
I frankly despise the Bali propensity for abusing their culture and symbolic rituals for mammon. It's time for them to take a hard look at themselves and decide.
This may be a good time for them to reflect on diversification and I hope they use wise counsel!
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Gday, we are on our way back to Bali, having finished visiting family in Jember. No drunks , easier to get around , what bliss, discounts abundant, i shall do my best whilst in Bali to support the local economy , yes I agree the balinese are losing their way , tourism is a ugly word for some. T.
 
My wife and I did take a holiday in Bali soon after Bali bomb 2 in 2005 and it was quiet. We stayed at the Conrad in Nusa Dua/Tanjong Benoa for US$90 per night for a suite with a walk-out balcony into the lagoon pool. Even at today's discount the same room will cost over US$400 so there may be further discounting in future.
 
Tourist numbers in Ubud are way down. Since this is likely to last 6 months or more, the economic impact will be far reaching. :-(
 
The author Cat Wheeler wrote an article a while back describing Ubud having become a 'one trick pony' that is totally reliant on tourism. This could apply to South Bali as well. The reality is that locals have been hoovering up money coming from the sky in the form of tourism, and now have nothing to fall back on during lean times. Old traditions have been lost, kids have gone uneducated and only think about hustling work in the tourist industry, drivers sit on their brains all day thinking that shouting 'taxi' at passing tourists is a smart business strategy, etc. The Balinese need to wake up and take their destiny into their own hands and return to a more balanced way of life not 100% reliant on handouts from foreign visitors.
 
It's quiet in the north, but it is mostly quiet here anyway. I always wonder how people survive here.

People think just of hotel/restaurants when they think of tourism, but so many other businesses rely on hotels/villas/restaurants for their customers, plumbers, electricians, laundry services etc.

I don't know what the solution is, but obviously more diversification is needed. I have heard how young people are less interested in learning Balinese crafts, like wood carving and so on. So this may have once provided income from exported products.

As Mark said too many young people's only ambition it to buy a car and drive tourists around.
 
I cannot envisage that tourism will never be the main part of Bali's economy but I think those who plan should not follow what has been a disaster in other places...namely; bottom-feeding for customers.
Just laying on direct budget flights for holidaymakers, who don't spend money, and boast about the numbers is a flawed model for tourist income.
Getting 100 people to spend $1 begets $100 but getting 10 people to spend $10 gets the same but with less footprint on this already overloaded infrastructure
IMO that's why even those 100 people are not repeating because of nickel and diming at all the venues to squeeze more money. If the quality of product at tourist venues was of a better standard, and the method of getting to those venues more easy, maybe we would get a higher quality of visitor.
 
I agree with targeting a better class of tourists. I remember only too well how beautiful tourism dependent Islands (eg. Spanish islands) destroy themselves by catering to the demands of tourists that arrive from the UK or Ireland and want to eat and drink in UK & Irish pubs and restaurants.

The tourists looking for a bargain seek out cheap food, accomodation and most of their money is spent on alcohol which means the tourism dollar is not spread evenly throughout the island. Most bars are owned and operated by foreigners also. If this keeps all involved happy then so be it. Whereas tourists looking for cultural experiences and a more comfortable holiday will pay more in every part of the island. I think Bali is doing not too bad in comparison. But the community and local government will have to make a decision of which direction they want to take this beautiful island.

I would like to see a Bali disaster recovery plan made public and what recommendations are laid out. Also it would be of interest to learn who in the government or which external organisation is tasked with this. No room for copying and paste from old recovery plans.
 
R6jok said:
I would like to see a Bali disaster recovery plan made public and what recommendations are laid out. Also it would be of interest to learn who in the government or which external organisation is tasked with this. No room for copying and paste from old recovery plans.
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Re: Wiki....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_National_Board_for_Disaster_Management

The Indonesian Governments BNPB is the controlling authority and have extensive experience in volcano disaster relief and are assisted by... the National Armed Force, the National Police, the local government, related government institutions and volunteers.

The local spokesperson for Mount Agung activity is...... Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
 
R6jok said:
I agree with targeting a better class of tourists. I remember only too well how beautiful tourism dependent Islands (eg. Spanish islands) destroy themselves by catering to the demands of tourists that arrive from the UK or Ireland and want to eat and drink in UK & Irish pubs and restaurants.

The tourists looking for a bargain seek out cheap food, accomodation and most of their money is spent on alcohol which means the tourism dollar is not spread evenly throughout the island. Most bars are owned and operated by foreigners also. If this keeps all involved happy then so be it. Whereas tourists looking for cultural experiences and a more comfortable holiday will pay more in every part of the island. I think Bali is doing not too bad in comparison. But the community and local government will have to make a decision of which direction they want to take this beautiful island.

I would like to see a Bali disaster recovery plan made public and what recommendations are laid out. Also it would be of interest to learn who in the government or which external organisation is tasked with this. No room for copying and paste from old recovery plans.
Click to expand...

And these days more and more shops are owned, operated or rented by foreigners
 
I truly do believe this event is a blessing in disguise. We've all known Bali is just a major tourism bubble waiting to burst. Even before Agung started erupting, how many empty restaurants, and hotels/homestays did you see lining the streets? I personally saw my fair share and to think developers continue to plow over rice fields in favor for more of the same is baffling to me.

The way tourism operates in Bali is far from sustainable. I think it would it have taken a few more years for most to realize that but Agung is speeding up the process. A part of me desperately hopes the Balinese react to this wakeup call and pursue a more diversified economy but another part of me thinks this will never happen.

Sadly, I fear most will simply wait it out until tourism regains it's strength and then it's back to business as usual. What's your opinion on the matter? Is it too late for Bali to make a change seeing as their economy is already dominated by tourism? What are their other options?
 
JackStraw said:
I truly do believe this event is a blessing in disguise. We've all known Bali is just a major tourism bubble waiting to burst. Even before Agung started erupting, how many empty restaurants, and hotels/homestays did you see lining the streets? I personally saw my fair share and to think developers continue to plow over rice fields in favor for more of the same is baffling to me.

The way tourism operates in Bali is far from sustainable. I think it would it have taken a few more years for most to realize that but Agung is speeding up the process. A part of me desperately hopes the Balinese react to this wakeup call and pursue a more diversified economy but another part of me thinks this will never happen.

Sadly, I fear most will simply wait it out until tourism regains it's strength and then it's back to business as usual. What's your opinion on the matter? Is it too late for Bali to make a change seeing as their economy is already dominated by tourism? What are their other options?
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Very interested opinion! sadly I think will never happen, beside the targets of government seems always to get more and more tourist to come to Bali and only interested about numbers and money.
I feel sad about the wonderful skills many of the Balinese people have on making many kind of handicrafts but they are loosing their capacity day by day because they go to work on hotels and restaurants, it seems art doesn't give much money these days like used to be 20-30 years ago,
I do believe things will be back to business as usual, they did after the Bali bomb, although we don't know how long will take.
 
Immigration Blues?

A friend of mine was due to fly to Singapore on the first day the airport was closed (he had prior warning) and went back the next day to find out what he had to do regarding his ticket and Immigration (his visa was due to expire three days later).
He ended up spending nearly nine hours at the airport dealing with what’s next?

His airline was OK – rescheduled his flight for eight days later and gave him a detailed letter of why (Mt Agung).

Airport’s Immigration told him because of Agung’s status, he would be fine to ‘overstay his visa’ for up to 14 days because of all the ongoing drama.

So – based on all that – he went to the airport two days ago (eight days after his actual visa expired) and was told he couldn’t board his flight because he’d overstayed his visa! Obviously, my friend was very upset. The ‘official’ threatened him with immediate detention, even jail and deportation later if he didn’t pay the Rp 2,400,000 overstay fee right there and then. He had no choice if he was going to catch his flight, so he paid (and got a 'receipt' from the official).

How was this possible, given the circumstances? Not to mention the government’s declaration that people affected by the ongoing chaos would get 14 days extra on whatever visas they were already on?

My view is that this was a gross stuff-up by Immigration during an extremely taxing time.

At one point, my friend wanted to punch the aggressive ‘authority’. I’m glad he didn’t, otherwise I could be sending him food parcels to Hotel K while he’s taking up painting, learning how to dig tunnels or where to borrow/snitch a ladder to help him climb out and ‘escape’.

All joking aside, he doesn’t want to pursue the matter, but I think that he should. He might get his money back, and an apology for the hassles he went through.

I don’t know if this was an isolated ‘incident’ or one of many.

Whatever it was, it goes against the grain of some Balinese authorities spruiking how much they care about innocent foreigners caught up in events they had no control over.

Not a good look (IMHO).
:mad:
 
What a sad story treating travelers like that , bali does not deserve visitors ! for sure your friend was not the only one .
I read all the promises made by the local tourist authority , free visa extensions for delayed flights .
Also the "so called" free transport to another airport Promise , delayed passengers were dropped FREE only to mengwi , they had to board buses all the way to surabaya and pay 300k each ,hardly free ,and no doubt pay for further flights to their home base .

Welcome to indonesia ,what a sad joke .

I hope the local spies read this and pass on to the relevant "mentally challenged" individuals who made the original promises to visitors .
 
Re; post # 16 by Johnny Cool.
I also think your friend is doing a disservice by not taking further action.
I'd hope you can convince him to copy all evidence and send to the Indonesian Embassy/Consul nearest where he lives. I'd also suggest he adds a letter to the effect if he doesn't get a satisfactory reply to his complaint, by a certain time, he'll release all information to the media in the hope others visiting Bali will not be treated similarly.
It is hectic enough when the airport is closed.... the last thing a visitor needs is to be hassled by an Immigration Officer.
As you know Bali is in financial woes due to Mount Agung and the last thing they need now is this kind of bad publicity.

Re: Post #17 by tel522
I don't know where you got the information the Airport Authorities offered a free service from the Bali airport to any other airport and beyond. I read they offered free transport from Ngurah Rai to the Mengwi Bus Terminus.
 
I understand that in order to get the extension one had to go to the immigration department with the ticket and airline letter in hand to get a chop in the passport conferring a fourteen day 'force majeure' extension. Have seen a couple of passports with this chop. I suppose the rule is 'no chop, no extension'. Poor execution and communication by the immigration department.
 
I agree , johhny cools friend should report it to the local indo embassy ,.
re free transfer from ngurah rai to surabaya by bus ,damri , as I heard in the planning b4 before the airport was closed , iv just checked it was changed , to payment on from mengwi .
 
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