INDONESIA - Kintamani Tourism Suffering

Balidiscovery.com, (10/7/2006)

The Indonesian language BisnisBali carried a page-one story reporting that in the four years since the 2002 Bali bombing there have been 22 closures of restaurants and hotels in the hill-top resort area of Kintamani.

According to the report, businesses populating the volcanic crater have been forced to cease operations due to the dramatic drop in visitors and the resulting inability to meet operating expenses.

The newspaper quoted a local businessman who has changed professions from being a restaurateur to selling produce as saying, "What can we do when we are facing growing losses?"

The currently dire situation was confirmed by the Chairman of the Bangli Chapter of the Indonesian Hotel & Restaurant Association (PHRI), I Wayan Winurjaya, who said that many business had closed with the hardest hit being small-sized enterprises. Winurjaya, who is also the owner of the Lake View Hotel and Restaurant in Kintamani, blamed terrorist acts, natural disasters, and fear of disease as all having a negative contribution to the state of Bali's tourism.

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