The top-end hotel industry in Bali, one of Asia's premier tourist destinations, has been badly hit as fear of flying and the global recession keep big-spending visitors away.
Resorts and boutique hotels where wealthy American, European and Japanese tourists used to pay up to US$500 a night or more for views of the Indonesian island's pristine beaches, volcanic mountains or emerald green rice paddies are suffering the most.
Some hotel owners say occupancy rates in Bali hotels have fallen to levels not seen since the Gulf War a decade ago, and room rates have sunk as hotels offer deep discounts. Only partly cushioning the fall has been growth in domestic tourism.
"People were just about getting over their fear of flying [after the attacks], but now they are worried about the economy, they are holding on to their money. These are sad times," said Pamela Bathgate, manager of the Kupu Kupu Barong, a small upscale hotel in the picturesque mountain town of Ubud.
The suicide attacks on the US last September have also been a major problem for Bali.
The island has largely escaped the violence to hit Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, since it plunged into chaos four years ago.
But threats by Muslim radicals against Americans during the US-led attacks on Islamic Afghanistan have done nothing to bolster Bali's image for potential tourists, especially those with little knowledge of the Hindu island, which lies around 1,000km east of Jakarta.
Foreign governments often single out Bali as safe when advising citizens not to visit various other parts of Indonesia. But many tourists do no make that distinction and give Bali a miss.
"I have never seen it like this. We remember the Gulf War, but then the slump did not last so long," Kupu Kupu Barong manager Bathgate said.
She added that the hotel -- which has had famous guests such as Mick Jagger and Denzel Washington -- would soon close for six months of renovations. "We needed to do renovations anyway, better to do it while things are this quiet," she said.
Occupancy at the Kupu Kupu Barong, whose rooms range from US$225 to US$695, has swung from 50 to 15 percent in recent weeks.
At the Komaneka hotel in central Ubud things were equally quiet. Only a few of the stylish rooms were occupied last week and staff offered attractive discounts.
"I've been here a week now, and I've had the place pretty much to myself," one German tourist said.
The picture was also pretty grim for most of the large resorts dotted along the island's south coast.
The long strip of five-star hotels from the center of the Nusa Dua resort area to the village of Benoa was eerily quiet the week before Christmas. Restaurants were empty, most hotels offered deep discounts and souvenir vendors frantically pursued the few tourists with a determination bordering on desperation.
"Bali is bankrupt. It's been like this since the attacks [on the US]. This cannot go on," said Dicky Nuripa, a longtime driver and tourist guide who makes his living along the strip.
Bucking the trend was the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Dua. The five-star resort was nearly full of Asian tourists and Western expatriates last week.
Infamous Kuta, a long strip of beach popular with backpackers, has also had a steady stream of visitors this month.
Local media have quoted Tourism Minister I Gde Ardhika as saying the target for total foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia this year had been reduced to 5.1 million from the original target of 5.4 million.
Bali usually accounts for around 30 percent of all arrivals.
Balancing the lack of foreign tourists is a surge in local visitors. Tourism specialists said the cheaper hotels in bustling Kuta had suffered less, as domestic tourists took up some of the space vacated by foreign travellers.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique