Warning over Bali losing competitiveness
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Leaders from Bali’s tourism industry have sounded the alarm that the Indonesian island may be losing its competitiveness.
A seminar hosted by Bali Tourism Friends (BTF) - a group composed of leaders from Bali’s tourism community - warned that urgent action was taken the island’s tourism visitors would soon start spending their holidays elsewhere, a report in Kompas said.
Quoted by Bali Update (ww.balidiscovery.com), the report carried comments by the former Indonesian Minister of the Economy, Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti.
He had said the contribution of tourism to the national economy had been stagnant at 30-35% during the period 2004-2007. While external factors played a part, he said he saw the situation as a sign of Bali’s growing lack of competitiveness due to the declining state of the island’s tourism product.
“If we take a closer look we will see that tourism has grown globally around the equator while Bali has had a tendency to stagnate. This has happened when, in fact, Bali’s represents Indonesia’s face to the world,” Dorodjatun was quoted saying/
Citing symptoms of Bali’s declining appeal, Dorodjatun added; “Along the streets of Denpasar and other areas in Bali are buildings with non-Balinese architecture contributing to a declining desire among foreign tourists to visit Bali. Money changers and taxi drivers are continually trying to defraud their customers.”
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