BTB
The Danish Government’s travel warning to its people to go to Indonesia will not have a significant impact, specially for Bali province. Chief of Bali Tourism Board Bagus Sudibya told ANTARA here recently that each month 650 to 700 Danish tourists visited Bali — the main tourism destination in Indonesia for foreigners — or not more than 8,672 per year.
“Therefore, the Danish Government’s travel warning would not have any significant effect to the number of Danes coming to Bali,” he said. The Danish Government warned its people not to visit 14 countries with a Moslem majority after strong reactions from those countries protesting the cartoon depicting Prophet Muhammad published in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. Indonesia is not included on the list of 14 countries, but the Danish Government once issued a travel warning to its people wishing to visit Indonesia in 2002 after the Bali bombing, and the warning is now still effective. However, up till now Danish tourists simply ignore the travel warning and still visited Bali. At the moment, after the demonstrations in some parts of Indonesia, the Danish Government has made an up-date for the travel warning for Indonesia. According to Bagus Sudibya, after the Bali terrorist attack, foreign tourists visiting Bali had been increasing. Data in November 2005 the number of tourists reached 62,705, in December 2005 the total reached 79,103, and in January 2006 the number increased to 94,000.
