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4/21/2009

Bali to revise zoning bylaw

The development of the villas has triggered a heated controversy with environmental activists and politicians on one side against the regent of Badung, who issued the building permits, and the local villagers of Uluwatu on the other side. 
The former group has accused the development of violating the existing bylaw, particularly its clause declaring the five-kilometer perimeter area around the temple no development zone. 
The latter group has argued that the regulation prevents locals from gaining any benefit from their land that lies inside the perimeter area. The bylaw was not only outdated, but since it was ratified in 2005, two years before the passing of the country's law on land use, it didn't fully conform with the national legislation. The existence of the bylaw, which doesn't reflect the actual condition and doesn't conform with the higher regulation, has created numerous controversies 
The five-kilometer perimeter around Uluwatu temple as an example. The bylaw declares it a no development zone, however, the reality in the field is quite different. There has been many buildings developed inside those perimeter. We should take this reality into consideration since locals also need jobs. So we need a new regulation that accurately reflects the reality in the field.

A team of experts will be formed to thoroughly review the regulations and to gather comprehensive data from the field. Members of the team will be drawn from various government agencies as well as from elements of the affected communities. The revision, was an effort to accommodate the public's needs and aspirations. We don't want to violate any regulation and at the same time we don't want an opportunity to increase the people's welfare being hampered (by a regulation)
By:Ni Komang Erviani, Contributor, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

3/30/2009

The Best Spa

Indonesia selected destination spa in the world through the award will be awarded the International Wellness Awards to Indonesia in the International Travel Bourse in Berlin, Germany.
Why Indonesia? Because Indonesia is able to maintain the ancestral cultural heritage combined with the results of the latest research "Indonesia through Bali has been selected as" The Best Destination Spa in the World. Awards will be submitted in order to organize exhibitions that prestigious annual tourism, the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Berlin, Germany, beginning in March 2009. 

"The plan, conferment ceremony will be attended by the leading tourism leaders from around the world," he said. 

This is because the ITB exhibition is the largest involving thousands of actors in the business world's international tourism. Awards are planned to be received directly by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik akan who attended the event at the ITB Berlin. 


King can also award 

On the same occasion, the King, Denpasar IX, Ida Tjokorda Ngurah Jambe Pamecutan award was also akan Senses Wellness Award 2009 from the same organization. 

King Denpasar IX will also receive "The Five-star-Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award" which will be provided by the President of the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences Joe Cinque up and contrib pengabdiannya in the exchange relationship and the development of international culture. 

"We represent the public spa in Bali will leaving the event in addition to this year because Bali was selected to become the world's best destination spa," said King Ida Tjokorda IX Denpasar Ngurah Jambe Pamecutan. 

He hopes, receiving the award may be better to introduce Indonesia to the world tourism international. 

Denpasar IX King planned to leave the mission and bring cultural troupe consisting of 80 kings and sultans throughout the country joined in the Forum at palace se-Nusantara. 

We will also bring a team of art and classical Balinese arts from all over the archipelago to promote our indigenous cultural traditions to the world. Principle, not in Australia for tourism, but tourism to the prosperity of the Indonesian people

3/07/2009

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2/17/2009

Bali hotel overview

In the quarter under review, no new hotel opened after the completion of the St. Regis Bali Resort in 3Q2008. However, the renova¬tion of a hotel in Tuban (near the Kuta area) was accelerated to meet the scheduled comple¬tion date of February 2009. An old hotel, Bali Hai, was taken over by the Palma Group and, after major refurbishment, will be renamed Holiday Inn Resort Baruna (Intercontinental Hotel Group), a 4-star hotel with 195 rooms.
The global crisis has in some cases resulted in the inevitable cancellation of travel ar¬rangements by tourists from Europe or the US. However, despite seeing a drop in both AOR and ARR, Bali’s hotel market in general remained relatively stable. This was probably due to domestic guests taking year-end vaca¬tions in the holiday season and to foreign guests who had booked their visits long before the financial crisis occurred. 
Given the possible travel cancellations, the Bali Hotel Association suggested that its members retain bookings by shifting them to other periods in the following year when the global financial turmoil has eased. Potential pending hotel bookings may come from cor¬porate clients or companies that are badly affected by the business slowdown.

The overall occupancy rate in Bali in 4Q2008 was below expectations. In the seven destina¬tion areas in Bali, none recorded an AOR of above 80%. In general, the AOR for the quar¬ter dropped by around 1% compared to the previous quarter. Seminyak was the only area to register a positive trend, albeit a moderate one. The Ubud area continued to capture the highest AOR this quarter, at 79.2% but, again, this figure was lower than in 3Q2008, when it was 80.5%.
Tourist areas in Bali recorded different trends in ARR. Areas such as Nusa Dua, Tanjung Benoa and Seminyak saw positive ARRs QoQ. However, hotels in other areas, such as Sanur, Kuta, Jimbaran and Ubud, registered a downward trend in ARR. Both the rise and the fall in the ARR were relatively stable and this trend was quite unusual in Bali, particu¬larly during the peak season.

After recording a climb in the previous quar¬ter, hotels in Nusa Dua saw a downturn trend from 77.7% in 3Q2008 to 76.7% in 4Q2008. The peak season in Bali did not boost oc¬cupancy levels, in particular in the Nusa Dua area, which is known as the preferred location for conventions. All hotel categories, from 3- to 5-star properties, registered a drop in AOR. The Westin Resort Hotel continued to show a steady performance and recorded the highest occupancy level in the Nusa Dua area.
An ARR increase from US$109.88 to US$111.99 was recorded in the quarter under review for all hotel categories in the Nusa Dua area. Once again, the Amanusa boutique ho¬tel had the highest ARR at above US$300.

Hotels in Tanjung Benoa reported a moderate drop in the occupancy level in all categories. Despite dropping by less than 1% on average, the peak season was apparently unable to lift the AOR for this area, which was recorded at 78.4%, down from 79.4% in the previous quarter. Four hotels in this area had an AOR of above 80%, with Grand Mirage continuing to lead the pack.
An upward trend in the ARR was noted in this quarter in the Tanjung Benoa area, i.e. from US$79.41 to US$81.13. All hotel cat¬egories registered an increase in ARR, but a significant climb was achieved by 4-star ho¬tels, i.e. from US$68.87 to US$75.49. In the Tanjung Benoa area, three 5-star hotels had the highest ARR of above US$100.


The AOR in Sanur dropped slightly from 75.8% to 75.6% in the quarter under review. A positive trend was achieved by 5-star ho¬tels, with the AOR moving upward to 71.3% from 70.0%. Only three hotels in Sanur achieved an AOR of over 80%, i.e. Tanjung Sari (a 3-star hotel), and Pavillions and Puri Santrian (4-star properties).
The overall ARR in hotels in Sanur was simi¬lar in all hotel categories. In the quarter under review, 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels recorded ARRs of US$54.96, US$59.77 and US$58.04, re¬spectively. These figures did not, however, lift the overall ARR for Sanur in the quarter, which dropped from US$58.99 to US$57.52. 

The AOR for hotels in Kuta was relatively steady, seeing only a slight decrease QoQ from 76.7% to 76.0%. All hotel categories registered a downward trend in occupancy, but 5-star hotels experienced the largest drop, from 74.3% to 71.9%. Looking at the respective hotels’ AOR figures for the past six months, occupancy levels were relatively steady, with no major volatility. 
All hotel categories in Kuta showed a slightly different trend in terms of ARR. The 3-star hotel category experienced a fall in ARR from US$64.02 to US$60.29, while 5-star hotels saw only a slight drop from US$82.93 to US$82.31. Meanwhile, the 4-star hotel category recorded an upward trend from US$66.59 to US$68.74. Similar to the previ¬ous quarter, four hotels achieved the highest ARR of above US$100.

The 3-star hotels in Jimbaran achieved the highest AOR, far beyond the 4- and 5-star categories. Nevertheless, their AOR dropped from 86.5% in 3Q2008 to 84.5 in the last quarter of the year. Similarly, the occupancy level for 4- and 5-star hotels slowed down, causing the overall AOR of hotels in Jimba¬ran to fall from 78.8% to 76.7% in the quarter under review.
From the graph above, it is clear that there are large gaps among star-rated hotels. However, none of the categories saw a positive trend QoQ. The AOR for all hotels dropped from US$151.69 to US$150.04, although the ARR for the past six months was stable. The high ARR for 5-star hotels in Jimbaran was fueled by three hotels, i.e. the Four Seasons Resort, The Ritz-Carlton and the Bvlgari Hotel & Resort. 

Seminyak was the only tourist area in Bali that registered a rise in AOR, albeit a small one, up from 70.4% to 70.9%. Only 3-star hotels saw a slight drop in occupancy levels, while the other categories noted an increase in occupancy, in particular the 5-star hotels.
Similarly, ARR levels in Seminyak went up quite significantly from US$124.82 in 3Q2008 to US$134.61 in the quarter under review. Only 5-star hotels recorded a rise in ARR, fueled largely by The Oberoi Bali, which recorded a significant increase in ARR.

The occupancy level in Ubud had been high¬er, but, in 4Q2008, the area was also affected by the global financial downturn, which resulted in a fall in hotel enquiries. However, overall, the AOR in Ubud hotels was rela¬tively stable and dropped only to 79.2% from 80.5% in the previous quarter. The drop was almost equal in all hotel categories.
Ubud maintained its image as an exclusive resort area in Bali, but, in 4Q2008, the ARR fell somewhat to US$197.75 from US$208.12 in the previous quarter. Quite a few hotels in Ubud offer very high room rates, with 20 ho¬tels having an ARR ranging from US$100 to as high as US$500 (achieved by Amandari). 

Source: http://www.colliers.com/Markets/Indonesia/


2/02/2009

Bali will have second airport

After months of uncertainty, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika confirmed on Wednesday the government's plan to equip north Bali with a new public airport. 

After meeting with the Bali Provincial Legislative Council in Denpasar, Pastika said a second airport would be built, adding that the go-ahead had come from Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik. 

"The idea to build an airport in north Bali did not just come from me, but also from Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Minister Jero and all the regents in Bali," Pastika said. 

Pastika's administration has been toying with the idea of building an airport in northern Bali since the governor was inaugurated in August last year. 

The administration's most recent plan was to build an airport in Kubu Tambahan district, Buleleng Regency, about 90 kilometers north of Denpasar. 

Currently, all nonmilitary air traffic on the island convenes at Ngurah Rai International Airport in the Badung Regency, southern Bali. 

There is also a small military airport - Lt. Col. Wisnu Airfield - in Gerokgak district, Buleleng. 

Pastika said Ngurah Rai airport was operating well over capacity and could not cope with more flights. 

Ngurah Rai airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I recently announced plans to expand the airport. 

Pastika said the new airport would ease the high population density in southern Bali. 

"It's much too crowded in the south and Ngurah Rai Airport can't support anymore traffic," the governor said. 

"And there's too much development in southern Bali to support the tourism industry there. There has to be an equal amount of development for north Bali's tourism industry," Pastika added. 

Bali's legislative council chairman Ida Bagus Putu Wesnawa said the council was behind the idea, but added that the Bali government would need to perform a study to see whether north Bali could sustain an airport. 

"We need to know whether *an airport in* north Bali can support Bali, whether it's big enough, what the population there is and which areas are suitable for tourist accommodations," Wesnawa said. 

"Because, if it turns out that north Bali cannot handle those things, if it turns out that we might have too many tourists and we can't accommodate them, then this might end up being a very bad plan," the council chairman added. 

Secretary-general of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association Perry Markus said he was behind the new airport and that he was hopeful it could increase the number of tourists to the island. 

"There are numerous interesting tourism spots in northern Bali, but these spots have not been developed as well as in southern Bali because it's too hard to travel there by land," Markus said. 

Northern Bali is home to a number of popular tourists destinations, such as Lovina beach, Singaraja, and the twin lakes in Bedugul in Gianyar.
Source: Ni Komang Erviani , Contributor , Denpasar | Thu, 01/22/2009 1:48 PM | The Archipelago