Tourism Leader Warns Bali Tourism is Discounting itself into a Second-tier Destination
While Bali has received many international awards recognizing it among the world's leading tourism destinations, many leaders in the tourism industry are increasingly concerned that Bali has become a "bargain destination" over the past 3-4 years.
The chairman of the Indonesian Tourism Association (GIPI), Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, warned that Bali's past success is no guarantee of its continued success. Moreover, he remains deeply concerned that Bali'sreputation may be on the downturn.
Quoted by the Beritadewata.com, Wijaya said: "At this time a price war is underway, This has caused the hotels to sell rooms at cheap prices."
He said that the price war has had a lead-on effect on tourism transportation, tourism attractions, restaurants, art centers and the creative economy.
Wijaya reasons that Bali as on the best tourism destinations in the world should be boosting other sectors of the economy, when, in fact, the opposite is happening.
Comparing Bali to Malaysia as a tourism destination, Wijaya contends Indonesia is failing to compete. While Malaysia is able to attract 24 million foreign visitors each year, Indonesia only garners 8.8 million foreign tourists.
While Wijaya admits the battle is not merely for the total number of tourists who visit, but more for
the amount of money that foreign visitors spend. Because of this, the trend to sell accommodation cheaply is accompanied by a diminishing length-of-stay for visitors to Indonesia - now standing at 3-days at five and four star hotels. Three star hotels are recording stays of 4-5 days.
"In fact, in the past the length of stay for foreign tourists was 13-14 days. Now they stay for 3 to 5 days. The length of time is diminishing," explained Wijaya.
People visiting Bali are staying shorter periods of time and spending less money. Daily spends are down to US$80 as compared to former levels of $110 in daily spending per day.
Wijaya says this problem will only become more acute if the government in Bali allows more accommodation to be built.
Source: balidiscovery.com
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