Bali Tourism News

Artisans seek intensified tourist promotion schemes

January 13th, 2009

The ongoing financial crisis has started to impact the islands’s small-scale industries, prompting artisans and art store owners in Gianyar regency to ask the local administration to assist them to cope with decreasing orders and dwindling foreign visitors.

Gianyar has long been known as Bali’s craft center, hosting Sukawati and Guwang, the province’s largest handicraft markets. In this regency, art stores and handicraft workshop are generally owned and ran by local artisans or their families.

Their request is simple: the local administration boost promotional efforts to attract more tourists to visit the island in this time of crisis.

“The local government should somehow find a way to promote the island, to make tourists come again,” an artisan, Chamim, said.

He owns a workshop, which produces unique and elaborate, decorated lamps, on Jl. Pandu, Gianyar, and a handicraft store in Ubud. European countries are the primary market of his products.

“My shop in Ubud is getting quieter and my workshop received fewer orders. The orders decreased by 80 percent,” he said, adding that paying his workers’ salary suddenly became a burden too heavy to shoulder.

A similar slowdown has been experienced by brass and bronze handicrafts in Batubulan village, stone sculptures and carvings in Singapadu village and wooden carvings and paintings in Ubud.

Wayan Rupi, the owner of Yuyu wooden carving art shop, shared Chamim’s opinion about tourism promotion, saying she only saw one or two visitors each day compared to 10 guests she usually served prior to the financial crisis.

Most craft shop owners in Gianyar, including Chamim and Rupi, do not have the financial capability and required networks to promote their products abroad. Naturally, they rely on the local administration’s tourism promotion campaigns.

Their hope for better tourism promotion campaign this year may not turn into a reality as the Bali Provincial Administration has slashed the promotion budget from Rp 5 billion to 4 billion.

Earlier, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said the reduction was aimed at making the provincial tourism agency work more efficiently and effectively.

He believed many campaign programs did not yield satisfactory results since many officials failed to carry out their duty properly while participating in promotional campaigns abroad.

“I learned that of five officers sent abroad to promote the island, only two work seriously, while the rest may go shopping or sightseeing,” he said.

He said he expected more advertisements to appear during foreign televisions’ top programs and for more flyers to available at every embassy.

Pastika said this year’s promotion would focus on domestic tourists and loyal markets such as Japan and Australia.

In order to cope with the slowdown, several artisans have started selling their products at lower prices.

Putu Suci, 48, an owner of a stone carving shop, said she gave discounts to persuade customers to buy more or to return to her shop in the future. Despite the marketing gimmick, her shop has seen no visitors in the last few days.

“During these quiet days, I just try to maintain the flow of money and empty the shelves. I set aside the thought of raking in a profit because the most important thing is to pay our workers,” she said Wednesday.

She said the income from the shop was not enough to meet the daily needs so her family relied on her husband’s salary as a physical education teacher at a junior high school.

“We will pray and try to survive,” Suci said.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Entry Filed under: Bali Tourism News