Bali Tourism News

Bali tourism confident of battling the credit crunch

November 14th, 2008

Hong Kong: The United Nations World Tourism Organization says global travel grew less than two percent in June, July, and August.

Bali is every dream of an Asian holiday but Asian holidays these days seem to be just a dream.

The people in Bali - most of them - are relaxing on the basis of decisions they made back when Wall Street still looked relatively good.

In Thailand, tourism operators carry an extra burden; a protest movement has occupied government offices for months it’s already helped bring down one prime minister. And a 16% plunge in visitors.

In Hong Kong’s ocean park, nearly half the visitors are from mainland china a relatively resilient market - so far. China is still growing in the high single figures - and the very lack of financial integration with western banks has largely protected China from direct exposure to things like risky sub prime debt.

In Asia, a tourism downturn doesn’t just hit the obvious things like airlines and resorts - high end shopping is also a major motivation for travelers to places like Hong Kong and Singapore.

Tour operators say they don’t expect massive discounts in Asia. It may be a jungle out there, but Bali has survived terrorist bombings - and is convinced it has the strengths - and the range - to weather this downturn.

“Holiday is one of the needs of western people - so they will come to Bali,” says Bali resident Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya.

“People still find overall Bali to be a very inexpensive place to visit, accommodation wise, especially food wise. Everyday expenses like travel. It’s still very affordable so I’d be surprised if Bali does suffer,” adds Marcus Willson.

Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/

Entry Filed under: Bali Tourism News