The change in national visa policy set to occur on February 1, 2004, has few friends in Indonesia's tourism industry where it is seen as a step-backward in efforts to re-invigorate the Nation's tourism fortunes.

Joining the chorus of those who see a 30 day visa purchased at the airport upon arrival as "bad for business" is Bali's fledgling yacht tourism sector who fear the new immigration policy will make Indonesia even more inaccessible to yachtsmen and yachtswomen.

Representative of the concerns felt for yacht tourism, Mr. Dick McCune, the Founder of the Royal Bali Yacht Club (RBYC) and General Manager of the Bali Marina told balidiscovery.com that he "doubts that anyone in the country has considered the impact of the 30 day visa on visiting yachts. After all it's a small tourism market and destined to stay that way with all the barriers provided by the Government."

The new policy is a seeming contradiction to official pronouncements supporting sea-tourism and, according to McCune, likely to discourage any seminal moves to invest in marine tourism projects. As McCune explained, "Indonesia is clearly 25 years behind Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand in terms of the yachting industry and sailing events. Each year an estimated 150 yachts transit Indonesian waters to take their tourist dollars to other countries because of the high cost and complicated procedures in Indonesia. With the new 30 day visa this can only get worse. Slow sailing yachts cannot possibly see much of this archipelago of 17,000 islands in 60 days, let alone with a 30 day visa. All yachts will now require an extendable Social Budaya Visa to enjoy the area at all and the cost and inconvenience continues to grow."

He continued, "Our nearest neighbors, Australia, must now pay an average of A$ 667.90 for one boat, husband & wife. That's equal to A$ 1,453.40 for a family of four to sail through Indonesia. This will buy them a Cruising Permit, a Social Budaya Visa, a port clearance into the country and one visa extension. Many of these people save money for a lifetime to pursue their dream of sailing to exotic lands. They are not all rich people, contrary to some popular beliefs."

The RYBC was established in February 2002 under the rules of Indonesian Sailing Federation. The Club organizes a number of local sailing events including the annual Darwin to Bali Yacht Race.

Total direct foreign arrivals via Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport for all of 2003 reached 994,616 – a figure that showed a retreat in tourism performance back to levels emblematic of those achieved in 1993 and before.

While December arrivals hit 95,783, a marked improvement from the same month in 2002 and 2001, the strong end to the year did little to improve the year-long totals which came in 22.65% behind the 2002 totals and trailed 26.69% after the 2001 totals.

The total foreign direct arrivals to Bali for the entire year 2003 fell under the important psychological threshold of 1 million, reminiscent of arrival figures for the island in 1993, the last time Bali's foreign direct arrivals were below 1 million tourists.

More information: Download Monthly Arrival Numbers 1999 to 2003

Following the recent arrest of an Australian man in East Bali charged with molesting two under-aged boys as reported last week in the article [Australian Held on Child Sex Charges], there is growing evidence of a crackdown on sexual predators who prey on children in Bali.

U.S. Homeland Security Agency Joins the Battle

Ms. Theresa A. Nibblet, the Program Manager, Foreign Operations for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration & Customs Enforcement Division told a regional seminar in Singapore on Thursday, January 15, 2004, that the U.S. Government is looking into the possibility that a child prostitution ring may be operating in Bali.

According to reports in the Indonesian-language Kompas, the U.S. started to take a closer look at child prostitution in Bali based on information received by their office.

Over the past few years under a program called Protect Act, the U.S. has assisted in the overseas apprehension of 7 U.S. citizens involved in the criminal exploitation of children. In Asia, international cooperation by law enforcement officials resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of a 69-year old American, Michael Clark, in Cambodia for 30 years for child-sex related crimes.

ASEAN Traveler's Code

A meeting among tourism officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and concerned non-governmental agencies concluded on Friday, January 16, 2004, and resulted in a draft resolution of the ASEAN Traveler's Code (ATC). That Code calls on travelers to consider people's rights, particularly the rights of women and children, and be mindful of the activities they undertake and the businesses they support. The Code asks the public to "help prevent the abuse and exploitation of people" placing particular emphasis on the need to eliminate the sexual exploitation of children.

Plans are for the ATC to be distributed through travel agents, airlines, and immigration check points across the region.

According to data cited by Mr. Ahmad Sofian, Executive Secretary of the Center for the Study of Child Protection quoted in the Jakarta Post, there are an estimated 71,281 working as registered prostitutes in Indonesia, 60 percent of which are young girls between the ages of 15 and 20 years. Mr. Sofian also cited the sexual abuse of children on the island of Batam where some 3,000 visitors from nearby Singapore and Malaysia visit every week. He said that there are an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 sex workers operating on Batam under the age of 18.

Child Wise Report Highlights Bali

During the same meeting, the Director of the non-governmental group Child Wise released a report entitled "Bali: A Mecca for Child Sex."

Child Wide Director, Ms. Bernadette McMenamin, indicated that the recent arrest of the man in Karangasem only began to suggest the scope of Bali's child-sex problem. According to McMenamin, "There has been evidence of pedophiles traveling to Bali since the 1920s. This (Karangasem) is a very poor area of Bali and has always been vulnerable and since the bombing it is even more vulnerable to these crimes."

More information: Child Wise Website

Singapore Airline is offering passengers in the region a chance to sample their new long-range Airbus A345LeaderShip before it is deployed on its non-stop runs between Singapore and Los Angeles on February 3, 2004.

The specially configured aircraft with larger seating in both business and economy sections, extensive entertainment options, and lounge areas for economy passengers will fly from Singapore to Bangkok, Jakarta and Bali until the end of January 2004 with special fares to allow travelers the chance to experience what the Airline calls its "long-hail premium configuration."

The special offer, available on selected flights through the end of January, promotes one-way fares on selected flights between Singapore and Bali for SIN$ 99 (approximately US$ 58); between Singapore and Jakarta for SIN$ 450 (approximately US$ 264); and Singapore and Bangkok for SIN$ 320 (approximately US$ 188).

When the new service is launched between Singapore and Los Angeles on February 3, 2004, it will fly non-stop 16 hours on the eastbound journey and 18.5 hours on the return, westbound leg. SIA's A345LeaderShip will feature the world's first long-haul all premium configuration with just 181 seats in a spacious two-class configuration comprising an enhanced Raffles (business) Class and a new Executive Economy Class. The A345LeaderShip Executive Economy Class, designed in a very spacious 2-3-2 configuration, will offer the industry's widest economy class seats at 20 inch. The seats also come with a larger 9 inch personal monitor, and a laptop power supply.

Following the introduction of the Singapore – Los Angeles non-stop service, Singapore Airlines will introduce another A345LeaderShip on a Singapore to New York non-stop service in mid-2004.

As at 1 January 2004, SIA's operating fleet consisted of 82 aircraft comprising 30 B747s, 51 B777s and 1 A345.

The Government of Great Britain is in the process of preparing a "white paper" that will suggest possible improvements and changes to be made in the way the British Government issues foreign travel advisories.

In a consultative process that solicits the widest range of opinions on the subject, balidiscovery.com's editor wrote last week to Mr. Robert Chatterton Dickson, the Travel Advice Reviewer at Whitehall in London, to share a Bali-view of the changes needed in the way travel advisories are issued.

What follows is the text of our letter and a link to Mr. Chatteron Dickson's e-mail, should you like to share your thoughts on the subject.

Robert Chatterton Dickson, Travel Advice Reviewer, Whitehall, London

Dear Mr. Chatterton Dickson:

The undersigned is the operator of the e-travel website balidiscovery.com and a major destination management company located in Bali, Indonesia. We are availing ourselves of this opportunity to contribute our thoughts on the current review of travel advisories being conducted by the British Government.

We sincerely believe that the current system of travel advisories is inequitable and contributes little of value towards the protection of your country's citizens traveling abroad. In this regard, I would like to repeat the statements contained in an open letter sent to the U.S. President, George W. Bush during his visit to Bali on October 22, 2003 by the Indonesian tourism industry.

Our comments delivered to Mr. Bush are equally applicable to Her Majesty's Government:

• The war on terror is an international conflict. After September 11, 2001, the world did not declare New York and the United States as unsafe to visit. This would have punished the victims and played into the hands of terrorists' aims. As terrorist targets, the people of New York, Washington, Nairobi, Jakarta, Bali, and others – have all been equally victimized.

• The battle against terrorism is a shared responsibility. When every nation is a potential target of terror, it is wrong to single out individual nations, like Indonesia, and issue such warnings. These negative travel advisories are equivalent to a tourism trade embargo by your country against Indonesia.

• Indonesia is an ally in the war on terror. The world has praised Indonesia's police and judicial response to the October 12, 2002, Bali bombings, citing it as an excellent example of a victory in the international was on terror. President Megawati and her government are committed to eradicate terror.

We now call on you, asking to be treated as a true ally in this important struggle. The current travel advisories — which are highly prejudicial to our tourism industry, a fundamentally important source of badly needed foreign exchange for Indonesia's economy — should be reconsidered.

We humbly remind the U.K. Government that courage is the first weapon in the war against those who resort to terror in an attempt to disrupt the very fabric of our lives. The millions of Indonesians who derive their incomes from tourism ask you to courageously take the lead in revising the current travel advisory system that continues to cause untold misery for the victims of terror, long after any actual terrorist attack.

In its stead, together we must create objective international criteria for public safety and security against which all travel destinations can equally be measured. In the absence of specific threats upon which to base a country-specific travel advisories, the world and the British traveler will be much better served by a transparent set of specific security criteria against which safety, security preparedness, and improvements achieved in enhancing the public's security can be objectively measured.

Use the link below to send your comments on Travel Advisories to Mr. Chatterton Dickson.

More information: Send Whitehall Your Views on Travel Advisories

The World Peace Gong was first rung at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2002, by Indonesia's President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Vice-President Hamzah Haz to symbolically usher in a new era of peace following the horrific terrorist bombing in Bali that occurred just two months earlier.

Echoing its call for peace, that Gong has traveled the globe and been used to open important international meetings, reminding the citizens of the world of the urgent need for peace and brotherhood. Continuing that journey, the Gong will travel to Geneva on February 5, 2004, where it will be sounded to mark the opening of the Second Global Summit on Peace and then make its way to New York where it will be used to help open the annual session of the United Nation's General Assembly.

Spreading the Message of Peace

To help sound the gong of peace, replicas of the World Peace Gong are now in production with plans to install them initially in five major cities of the world, namely, New York, Washington D.C., Beijing, New Delhi and Geneva. Eventually, the initiators of the World Peace Gong project hope to have gongs in 10 cities by 2005 and in 218 countries around the world by 2015.

A Gong Rich in Symbolism

Each of the World Peace Gongs is decorated with a peace flower and the name "Gong Perdamaian Dunia" - it's name in Bahasa Indonesia to identify its birthplace. The edge of each gong will bear religious symbols from 10 of the world's great religions: Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Khonghuchu, Shintoism, Sikhism, Taoism, and Hindu Dharma from Bali. The Gong will also feature a symbolic representation of the planet earth to remind the world that we all share a common home.

A photo exhibition of images by William R. Durman and Rama Surya will be held at Cottage Frames on Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai 888xxx in Pemogan (Denpasar) through February 20, 2004.

William R. Durman

With over a decade's experience as a free-lance photographer, U.K.-born William R. Durman has produced a wide-ranging body of work. His deep interest in anthropology and travel has resulted in remarkable images of the art, culture and social diversity in Southeast Asia. His work has appeared in a number of regional publications and he has undertaken a number of private photographic commissions in the region.

Rama Surya

Rama Surya has contributed to a large number of international publications, including Galeri Foto Journalistik and Latitudes. He was named "Photographer of the Year" by Germany's fotoMagazine in 1998. His touring photo exhibition in 2000 documenting the destruction of the Borneo rain forest, met with overwhelming critical acclaim.

Rama Surya recently provided the photographs for a book "Bali Living in Two World," published in 2002 under the auspices of the Museum der Kulteren in Basel, Switzerland.

Journey

The current exhibition is open daily from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. at Cottage Frames, closing on February 20, 2004. For more information telephone ++62-(0)361-728555.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has issued a call for media restraint in reporting on any possible re-emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The call, issued by PATA's President and CEO Peter de Jong, was made as Chinese officials investigate a suspected SARS case in Guangshou, southern China.

PATA points out that in contrast with the emergence of SARS early last year, highly sophisticated surveillance and response mechanisms are now in place around the world. Furthermore, China (PRC) medical authorities have been praised by the World Health Organization for the speed, efficiency and transparency of their response to the one isolated case last month.

PATA's Mr. de Jong said all parties must not make the same mistakes as last year. "I particularly urge the consumer media not to fan the flames of public fear by overstating the threat of any new outbreak of SARS. This is a time for the media to show its professionalism by maintaining perspective and not hyping the issue. Because of misplaced hysteria 10 months ago, thousands of people in the Asia Pacific travel industry lost their jobs. This must not happen again."

On January 8, 2004 the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an official release: "Symptoms of SARS mimic those of several other respiratory diseases, including many that are more frequently seen during the winter months. Some of these diseases may also give rise to atypical pneumonia. It is likely that numerous other suspected cases will be reported over the coming weeks."

The PATA President and CEO said: "All of us have to remain vigilant. The travel industry across the Asia Pacific region has taken all reasonable measures to ensure traveler safety and well-being in face of any new health challenge. PATA will continue to take a leading communications role to protect our industry whatever the threat."

PATA has urged local authorities facing any future suspected cases of SARS to take quick and decisive measures to contain the problem. Health authorities should then inform the public of measures taken and keep them fully updated with the latest developments.

More information: WHO Link for SARS Information

The sales and marketing line-up at Bali's Waterbom Park has undergone a major shake up with new players cast in key roles to drive sales and customers to the water recreation park and spa complex in Kuta.

• Ms. D. Riana Bismarak is now the Park's Director of Sales & Marketing, replacing Mr. Harry Tanjung who has left to join the Conrad Bali.

Riana has over 9 years experience with hotels and airlines, her most recent position as Marketing and Sales Manager Indonesian for Air Paradise.

• Ms. Yuli Wijaya has been appointed Sales Manager. Prior to her latest appointment, Yuli was the Sales Manager at the Ramada Bintang Bali Resort.

• Ms. Arie Widianingsih is the Park's new Marketing Communications Manager. Before this new assignment, Arie served as a Marketing Coordinator at Le Meridien Nirwana Golf & Spa, Bali and will continue to assist that property while working with the Park.

• Ms. Yuliani Normauli is in charge of the Park's growing meetings and incentive segment in her role as Event Coordinator. Yuliani's last assignment was with the Sales & Marketing division at Bali's Planet Hollywood.

Commenting on the new appointments, Mr. Mikael Ding, Waterbom Park's Director of Operations said, "the challenge here is to hire and train the right people; and then retain them. As this market develops we have to think carefully about what it takes to remain competitive."

More information: Visit the Waterbom Park

Key players from financial securities companies across the Asia-Pacific region will meet at the Grand Hyatt Bali in Nusa Dua from January 28-30, 2004, to attend the 9^th Asia Securities Forum (ASF).

Adopting the theme of "Restoring Confidence in Asian Capital Markets," the Conference will draw participants from securities companies in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

The two day event will feature the following speakers:

• Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Coordinating Indonesian Minister for Political and Security Affairs.

• Mr. Laksamana Sukardi, Indonesian Minister of State-Owned Enterprises.

• Mr. Chatib Basri, an economic observer from the University of Indonesia.

• Mr. Jim Rogers, the author of "Investment Biker: On the Road with Jim Rogers" and "Adventure Capitalist."

• Mr. Spencer White, First Vice-President and Chief Equity Strategist at APR, Merrill Lynch.

The Forum is the 9^th annual meeting of its kind. The first ASF was held in Japan in 1995 with meetings held at different locations each year whose aim is improving the performance of capital markets across the region.

More information: Send an E-mail

After opening the Bali office of Asian Trails in February 2000, Willem Loots has announced his resignation from the company, effective March 1, 2004.

Mr. Loots, with several decades of experience in Indonesia, is a popular member of the Bali travel industry and is widely expected to re-emerge in a new travel role in Bali where he has made his home with his wife and family.

Reports in the region's travel press suggest Loots opted to leave the helm at the Bali branch of the large regional destination management company over differences in opinions with other shareholders in the Company.

Asian Trails have announced the appointment of Mr. Renato Domini to replace Loots in Bali. Mr. Domini's last assignment with the company was as manager-inbound for the Asian Trails' Thailand office.

Custom's Officer at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport arrested a 31-year-old Sierra Leone citizen attempting to smuggle 462 grams of heroin into the Country concealed in his stomach.

According to local press reports, police became suspicious of Mr. Emmanuel O. Ihejerika when they questioned him about his frequent visits to Bali after arriving on a Malaysian Airline flight from Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, January 14, 2004.

Claiming to be a food and vitamin supplement salesman, the officers became even more wary when the tourist seemed to have no practical knowledge when asked about the types of health products he sold. Later, when drug detection dogs became very agitated whenever they got near the man, Customs Officials took Mr. Ikerjerika to the nearby Bali International Medical Center where x-rays showed a number of foreign objects lodged in the man's stomach.

The subsequent administration of a strong laxatives produced 31 capsules of heroin, each weighing approximately 14 grams, with a total street value estimated at US$ 49,000.

Prosecutors are now preparing formal charges against the man who faces a possible death sentence if convicted of smuggling narcotics into Indonesia.

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