One year after the bombing that killed 202 people in a Bali night club, the Foreign Office stands accused of causing “unwarranted damage” to the island’s tourism industry.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the pressure group Tourism Concern has put the downfall of the Balinese tourism industry fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the FCO. Some 26 British travellers were killed in the attack.
Tourism Concern’s director Patricia Barnett reportedly told the newspaper: “The Foreign Office has an obscure and secretive way of reaching decisions on travel advice. We need greater transparency so tourists can make up their own minds about where it is safe to travel.” She added: “There have been bombs in Spain and Morocco and, of course, the 11 September attacks, but the Foreign Office has not warned against travel to those destinations.”
The Foreign Office advice for Bali, available at www.fco.gov.uk/travel, warns: “We continue to receive information that indicates terrorists are planning further attacks throughout the country.” And a spokesman reportedly told the newspaper’s Ben Westwood that advice was under constant review: “It is based on the latest information we have and it is deemed necessary that the warning against travel to Indonesia remains in place.”
