Thousands of Hindu temples, tens of hectares of rice plantations, mangrove forests and beaches of white or black sand bathed by the Indian Ocean are the attractions sought in Bali last year by more than 2,000 Romanians who chose this exotic destination, viewed as one of the most appealing in the world and also described as such by US writer Elizabeth Gilbert in her “Eat, Pray, Love” bestseller.
“I was twice on holiday in Bali, most recently last year, when I stayed for two weeks. It is a different world, a different culture. Services are good, there are several events, people are relaxed. As regards tariffs, these are similar in terms of accommodation with those of Romania,” states Neculai Mihai, a stakeholder in courier FAN Courier, who was fascinated by Bali. Here, he experimented the four-hand Bali massage, yoga sessions, as well as snorkeling in the Indian Ocean.
As a matter of fact, entrepreneurs, as well as top management executives are the ones travel agencies send on holiday to the exotic island, considering the price of such a stay starts from EUR2,000/person.
“We sent a group of 12 Romanians on a two-week holiday in Bali and Singapore. Tariffs stood at EUR2,150 with accommodation at four-star hotels. Transport by plane was included in the price. Diversity, the island’s exoticism and culture are the elements that attract tourists to Bali,” says Dragos Pirnog, program manager with Explore Travel travel agency, which sends 250 Romanians annually to Bali. He specifies demand is rising owing to higher accessibility.
Visas can be directly obtained from the airport of Indonesia, with taxes standing at nearly EUR25/person. Moreover, starting 2011, Qatar Airways, Qatar’s national airline and one of the world’s largest, has been operational on the Romanian market, with flights on the Bucharest-Doha route (five flights per week at present), from where Romanians can reach Indonesia directly. Starting July, the airline will operate direct flights to Bali from Doha. The price of a ticket starts from EUR800-900.
“The number of foreign visitors is increasing in Bali. We received 3.2 million foreign visitors last year, in 2008 we had 1.9 million visitors,” said Nyoman Wardawan, Bali Tourism Office head of marketing.
The island, where there is a stark contract between luxury resorts and inhabitants’ modest houses (the minimum salary in Bali stands at $116/month), in 2013 attracted half of foreign visitors registered in Indonesia (though it accounts for just 0.29% of the country’s area), and in 2014 expects 3.5 million foreign visitors.
Tourism income topped $4 billion last year. There is no public transport in Bali, with most residents using scooters or motorcycles, and tourists rent cars or use the ones made available by hotel owners. However, the Indonesians built above the sea level, through the mangrove forest, 12 km of highway that link Benoa, Denpasar and Nusa Dua localities.
In Bali, there’s no day without a ceremony at the temples and gifts offered to gods, which makes this destination unique. Each house has a temple in its yard and gifts are laid at the gates, in the road, in restaurants, everywhere. Time is also measured differently in Bali, with the (Pawukon) calendar having just 210 days. In other words, there are six months of 35 days each.
Tourists can get a taste of Bali inhabitants’ life, as there are tens of temples. Tenah Lot is one of the iconic Hindu temples of the island, bathed by the ocean’s turquoise water. “The temple was built in the 16th century by a Hindu priest and is protected by snakes,” shows the Bali guide. Another temple, Pura Lehur, can be found in Uluwatu, on the southwestern coast of the island, up on the cliffs and it shelters tens of monkeys. Here, at sunset, the Balinese organize a traditional dance, Kacak, inspired by Ramayana ancient epic poem.
Another site that attracts 10,000 visitors monthly is the Monkey Forest of Ubud, a nature reserve that includes a Hindu temple, with over 300 monkeys. Many people choose Bali for its temples, but their experience is enriched by the spectacular beaches, such as those of Nusa Dua, Jimbaran or Kuta, surfers’ heaven.
There are almost 2,200 hotels, with a 46,000-bed capacity, and almost 1,300 restaurants in Bali. The island with a tropical climate has two seasons, dry (from April to October) and wet (October-April), with the highest demand from visitors in the dry season. A night of accommodation at a four-star hotel of Kuta (Bali), Ramayana Spa costs RON390 in July, according to booking.com data, and almost RON300 at a 3-star hotel of Semyniak (Centra Taum), but these do not have the beach nearby.
“We have five pillars. What are those pillars? Community, government, tourism industry, academicians and journalists. Tourism is like the roof of the house and this roof can be supported when the five pillars are strong. The role of the government is in providing the infrastructure, roads, clean water, the industry provides the facilities in terms of hotels, journalists communicate the government policy and academicians find solutions for different problems, and community is the most important one”,” says Wardawan.
Foreign visitors coming to Bali spend nine nights on average and $155 per day.
Visits to traditional Balinese houses, where residents welcome tourists with a smile, add to the authenticity of holidays in Bali. “Smiling is a welcome formula for us. We welcome groups of foreign tourists, we show them how we live,” says Mane, a Balinese woman of Tunjuk village, who speaks perfect English and welcomes tourists together with the other women of her family. Tunjuk impresses through its terraced rice plantations, which have gained the island’s renown. As a matter of fact, rice is Balinese people’s staple food, being served with vegetables, fish and all kinds of spicy sauces.
Among the fields from which the people of Bali get their incomes, namely agriculture, industry, tourism, the latter one has boasted the biggest growth in recent years. The officials of Bali tourism office go on “sales missions” to attract as many foreign visitors to the Indonesian island as possible. “We have many promotional activities, we participate at tourism fairs such as ITB from Berlin and we are going in sales missions in China, Australia, India,” said Nyoman Wardawan.
In Indonesia, a G20 member, with the largest economy in southeastern Asia, GDP per capita stands at $3,500, according to International Monetary Fund data. Last year, the value of Romanian-Indonesian commercial exchanges reached $200 million, with three quarters representing Romania’s imports from Indonesia.
Romania imports coffee, cocoa, rubber, as well as plastic, spare parts for the IT field and electrical equipment.
Annually, several thousand Romanians go on holiday to exotic destinations such as the Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius or Caribbean Islands, paying thousands of euros. Overall, Romanians spend EUR1.4 billion on their trips abroad.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)