DENPASAR, Aug 14 (Bernama) — More Malaysians are holidaying in the resort island of Bali in Indonesia with 43,678 arrivals recorded between January and June this year.
Bali Governor Dewa Beratha said 32,674 Malaysians visited the island during the same period last year.
Malaysians formed the fifth largest number of foreign tourists in Bali after Japan, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea, he said here after receiving a courtesy call from a group of journalists from Malaysia, Palau and Kiribati.
The journalists are here on a nine-day visit since Aug 12 organised by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.
Dewa said Bali received about 1.2 million tourists each year including from China, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and France.
He expected an increase in tourist arrivals this year with Bali hosting the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Conference from Sept 25 to 28 and also the International Conference on Climatic Change from Dec 3 to 14.
Source: http://www.bernama.com/
August 20th, 2007
A unique, charitable hotel & villa reservations directory has recently launched for Bali & Thailand. Travel Ethos is the first internet reservations site for hotels and villas that has the accommodation providers pay their fees / commissions directly to their nominated children’s charities in Bali and Thailand. Currently Travel Ethos supports the Bali Children’s Project in Ubud in Indonesia and the Mercy Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. This direct (with the hotel / villa) booking site also asks the accommodations providers to submit details of their ethics, environmental policies and even legality so that users of the site can determine how clean and green they are.
(PRWEB) August 13, 2007 — A unique, charitable hotel & villa reservations directory has recently launched for Bali & Thailand. Travel Ethos is the brainchild of a corruption / human rights victim and activist, Mark Austin.
Mark’s English company has been providing bespoke services to the Bali and Thailand tourism market for 8 years, but since Mark’s life was put at risk at his home in Phuket, Thailand as a result of problems with an aggrieved business competitor and the alleged illegal actions of what many — including Transparency International — consider to be one of the most corrupt police forces (Indonesia) in the world, meant his ability to maintain a commercial travel business to these destinations ended. In addition, as a result of these problems, Mark began to realise the greater problems for the people of Bali and Thailand, including their children.
Mark’s company has always supported worthwhile causes such as with free accommodation for the friends and families of Bali’s bomb victims, plus financial aid to poor families who lost their only income source when their family member was sent home without pay from the hotel where they worked due to the tourism problems, in a land without social security. His company also made a name for itself supporting where possible hotels and villas that were legal and ethical in every respect, so many not giving their own impoverished staff the service charge element they are legally entitled to. So the concept of and migration to a charitable reservations site which focused on the ethical or not operations of the hotel industry was a vary logical and easy one to make.
Travel Ethos asks for any support the media, hotel / villa owners and tourists can give it. Any hotel or villa owners in Bali or Thailand not yet listed on the site are asked to do so. Travelers are asked to use Travel Ethos’s direct reservations facility when and where they can as the commission the site earns goes directly to a needy children charity.
Please visit Travel Ethos here: www.travelethos.com - Bali & Thailand Hotels & Villas Reservations, Charitably and Ethically
Source: http://www.emediawire.com/
August 20th, 2007