Bali tourism leaders visit Australia.

To renew relationships with the Australian travel market, leaders from Bali tourism bureaus, hotel and restaurant associations and private accommodation specialists visited three Australian cities in 6 six days recently.

At one time Australians represented the largest arrivals to Bali shores. Fro 2006 to date Australian tourist arrivals had dropped to 53 % of last year due to the Bali Bombings and Australians citizens arrested for drugs.

Once again our president Mr. Lawrence Bellefontaine joined the Bali Village Association as what he joking refereed to as the "token Bule" (foreigner) to join them in their efforts to renew tourism with a highly depleted Australian market.

According to Lawrence at the first reception in Brisbane Australians travel agents were cautions but soon warmed up to the plentiful refreshments and the beautiful exotic Balinese dancers.

Several enjoyed free Balinese massages, hair braiding, or caricatures of them by Balinese famous Artists such as Made Gede Permama Artha (Jango) & Gusti Putu Api Supardi .

Dozens of door prizes were given including stays at Bali's top hotels and villas.

Opening speeches were presented by the Australian Indonesian Consul General.

The master of ceremonies Secretary General of the Bali Village Association Mr. Rudy Antara introduced other prominent Bali tourism officials including Bali Village, Vice Chairman, Herdy Sayogha and Mr. Bagus Sudibya Chairman of the Bali Tourism Bureau.

travel experts not concerned about bombings:

What surprised many of the Bali delegation was that the Australian travel professionals did not focus on past bombings but were more concerned about how to meet the increasing demand from their clients who desire Bali vacations.

Our president, a Canadian was invited to speak at the very end of the presentation and express a foreigner's view of Bali and security issues.

He started off by presenting the fact that Bali was voted the BEST ISLAND" for the past five years by the readers of the worlds largest travel magazine Travel & Leisure.

He then showed several slides why Bali is number one including its fabulous beaches, stunning scenery, friendly people, low cost, and great shopping.

To address security issues he cited the fact that he allows his 82 year old mother who has retired in Bali to walk the streets of Sanur at any time of the evening on shopping excursions without worrying about her safety.

He also mentioned Bali has one of the lowest crime rates in the world per capita.

The speeches reinforced in the travel agents minds that they should once again encourage their clients to visit the "Best Island" in the world.

Lawrence also noted after private meetings with the largest travel agents in their offices that all present expressed a love affair with our beautiful island and could not wait to return.

Bali government officials soon realized that there's no need to talk about last year's bombings as most Australians had already forgotten.

The final evaluation of the six day exhausting trip was that it would generate a dramatic increase in Australian tourist arrivals in 2007.

The Bali tourism experts expect to revisit Australia again in the first quarter of next year with a more intense promotional trip to work directly with travel agents and the public to make them aware that Bali is still the best island world.

http://www.etravelblackboard.com/index.asp?id=58924&nav=13

A press release for the above event on E Travel Blackboard web site is shown below 

Bali's battle to bring back Aussies on top of the agenda

Thursday, November 30, 2006

The Bali Tourism Board has pledged increased support to improve their presence in the Australian and New Zealand marketplace in 2007 according to Bali Village, Vice Chairman, Herdy Sayogha.

In an exclusive interview with e-Travel Blackboard, Mr. Sayogha said he was contemplating visiting Australia and New Zealand at least twice a year from 2007 in a bid to increase promotional activities for both members of the trade and consumers. 

"Increasing Australian and New Zealand arrivals are a priority for us.  Australia is still Bali's fourth largest market" he said.

Mr. Sayogha said that in recent months, statistics showed that arrivals were on an increase of 50 per cent during the same period year on year.  Currently arrivals from Australia were 20 per cent behind pre-2005 levels due to the buoyancy of Bali's other source markets with most returning to normal levels.

Bali has also experienced resurgence from new emerging markets including Europe and Japan which are now both in the top four for arrivals to the island.  He said potential markets included India and China as well as regional markets.

Traditional Balinese Dancers

Mr. Sayogha said he welcomed news that Air Paradise may be re-commencing services from Denpasar to Australia saying "any additional carrier that can service between potential markets is positive."

He also said the recent ''Where the Bali hell are you?'' campaign by Little Bali Hotel & Resort Company was a "brilliant thought for Bali" and showed that "many people still have concern about Bali."

Regarding hotel occupancy levels, Mr. Sayogha said it was "hard to say" due to the ever increasing number of new properties or extensions on existing hotels opening each month.

The "Bali is my Life" tagline which is used in conjunction by Indonesia's national carrier, Garuda and its wholesale division, Garuda Orient Holidays in Australia, has been widely accepted and approved by the Ministry of Indonesia and will continue to be used throughout 2007, according to Mr. Sayogha.

"It is an expression of everybody that lives in Bali," he said.

Bali was recently awarded "Best Island in the World" by the readers of Travel + Leisure magazine.