Early indications suggest that visitor numbers to Bali have not dropped significantly following the car bomb explosion outside a Jakarta hotel last Tuesday.
Passenger movement figures from Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport on the day after the bombing showed 7,201 arrivals (3,830 domestic and 3,371 international) and 6,556 departures (3,745 domestic and 2,811 international).
According to the organisers of the Back 2 Bali campaign, these figures are in keeping with travel patterns prior to the Jakarta bomb, and visitor figures remain stable. According to the organisation: “news of the Jakarta attack did not cause a wave of panic or max exodus for visitors to the island”.
Australian carrier, Qantas is telling a similar story. It says Australians are still booking tickets to Indonesia at this stage.
Another positive sign for the region is that Indonesia’s flag carrier, Garuda, has brought a number of flights back to pre-Sars levels. This includes services between Indonesia and the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The UK flights are operated as a codeshare with Malaysia Airlines on its Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur service.
