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Welcome to blog.indahnesia.com, the place where you will find all kinds of things related to Indonesia in one way or another. Currently we have 5,567 entries on this blog available for you. Please log in first to react on blog entries. The items earlier published on story.indahnesia.com have been moved here as well, you can find them in the blog's archive.
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Budget airliner AirAsia has opened up two new routes that link the Indonesian cities of Medan in North Sumatra and the capital city of Jakarta with the popular beach resort town of Phuket in Thailand. AirAsia is the first airline to fly direct flights between the locations, which will be flown by new Airbus A320 planes belonging to Thai AirAsia.
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Bali has been named one of the best regions in the world to visit in a new Lonely Planet travel guide. The famed Island of the Gods came in second behind Alsace in France, and ahead of Fernando de Noronha in Brazil. Lake Baikal in Russia was the other Asian region to make the top 10 list.
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The city of Palembang in southern Sumatra is to host the Musi Festival between December 3 and 9 in an effort to bring more tourists to the city. Various attractions will be presented by the local administration, like an International Dragon Boat Festival, a culinary festival and education exhibit. The head of the tourism agency in the city, Baharuddin Ali, said that the event would be organized at the same time as the celebration of the River Days.
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The minister of Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, has said that Indonesia would plan on attracting ten million visitors to the country in 2014. Although targets are often set in Indonesian tourism, they are rarely met, but this does not refrain the minister, just inaugurated for his second term, from setting high goals for his department.
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The minister for Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, has planned to cut short the processing time of visa on arrival services at airports and seaports in Indonesia within the first 100 days in office. He said the accelerating the service would certainly improve the image of Indonesia as a tourist destination which would lead to more foreigners visiting Indonesia.
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Indonesia's Department of Culture and Tourism has announced its intention to continue the current Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) campaign for a third year as part of plans to attract 7 million foreign visitors in 2010.
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Baturraden, a nature conservation park located at the foot of Mount Slamet, won the award for best eco-tourism destination in Central Java. The Best Man-Made Tourism site award went to Bojongsari (Owabong) water tourism in Purbalingga. "We were judged as the best in the competition in Central Java," said Baturraden Tourism Manager in Banyumas, Soedarto.
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Bali's Nusa Dua Complex will once again host the Nusa Dua Fiesta XIII 2009 October 17-21, 2009, which will include participation by 20 different provinces across Indonesia.
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Community enforcement officers have finally begun to take decisive action against Badung regency accommodation and night entertainment venues who have failed to secure required licenses and permits in support of their operations.
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Beritabali.com reports that 44 "Melati" or "tourist class" hotels recently failed to earn security and safety certificates issued by the government of Bali. The certificates are issued after visits and review by a team of officials from various departments of the island's government.
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Despite growing tourist arrivals to Bali, recent information released by Bank Indonesia show that the amount being spent by tourist visitors to Bali is on the decline. Ida Bagus Viraguna Bagoes Oka who heads the Bali branch of Bank Indonesia, pointed to the changing composition of Bali visitors now dominated by Asians who stay for shorter periods and spend less on a per day basis while holidaying in Bali.
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The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has said that the target of the number of tourists that will visit Indonesia in 2010 has been raised by half a million foreign tourists from the 2009 target of 6,5 million. "We are planning to raise the target for foreign tourist arrivals in 2010 to seven million, taking into account security improvements in Indonesia as well as the growth in arrivals this year," said Sapta Nirwandar, a marketing director at the ministry.
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After a successful Sail Bunaken 2009, held in Manado in North Sulawesi, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries will organize a similar event next year as well. The location for this event will be Banda, one of the island is the Moluccan archipelago. The event is already named 'Sail Banda 2010'.
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The Mandarin Oriental, Jakarta is to reopen next month following a renovation that took some 20 months. The luxury hotel and property will now offer 272 rooms and over 1,000 square meters of event space. The space for meetings and the banquet will have space for up to 600 guests and the meeting rooms are naturally lit.
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The second day of Lebaran, yesterday, has moved thousands of local tourists from different parts of Yogyakarta and surrounding areas to visit the beaches on the southern side of the province. The beaches of Depok and Parangtritis were flooded with tourists looking for a nice scenery and the fresh sea-food. There was even a shortage of parking space at certain moments.
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The government will introduce a new policy on January 1, 2010, that will refund sales tax (VAT) spent on purchases by tourist visitors to Indonesia. Speaking to Bisnis Indonesia, the Director of Tax Regulation, Catur Rini Widosari, said the government will set a minimum level of Rp. 5 million (352 euro) to qualify for the 10% tax rebate, but there will be no maximum limit under the new policy.
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During the first week of September 2009, joint enforcement teams comprised of officials from the Bali provincial government, tourism police, water police, public prosecutors, members of the Water Sport Association (Gahawisri Bali), environmental authorities and tourism officials visited dive operators in the regency of Buleleng, north Bali.
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Indonesia's culture and tourism are developing well despite of the world's financial crisis that wrecked many countries, the Jakarta Post quoted a minister as saying on Thursday. Minister for Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik said that Indonesia's movie and music industry grew significantly compared with the previous year while tourist arrivals was expected to keep growing this year.
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Besides counting islands, Indonesia has more on it's hands. Just recently it became known that the website www.privateislandsonline.com is selling several Indonesian islands. Some of you will directly say that foreigners can not own any land in Indonesia, which is correct, and is also stated on the website. There is no freehold, only leasehold. So in fact you are not buying an island, you are leasing it.
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A special committee of the Regional House of Representatives from the regency of Gianyar in Bali has estimated that 60% of that district's potential hotel and restaurant tax income is lost via illegal commercial villas who side-step their tax obligations.
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Terrorists planned to kill Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in revenge for the execution of the Bali bombers. However late yesterday Indonesia's National Police chief, Bambang Hendarso Danuri, would not confirm that South East Asia's most wanted man, Noordin M Top, had been shot dead after a 17-hour siege in Central Java.
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Here at indahnesia.com we have been working hard to improve out services. We have installed this new fancy blog and are in progress of updating the forums as well, but outside that we would like you to take a look at the 600+ hotels we are currently offer.
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Travel + Leisure Magazine has concluded its annual survey of the discerning travelers who comprise its readership asking them to name their favorite cities, islands, hotels, resorts, airlines, cruise ships and even rental car agencies.
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National tourism arrivals increased 1.69% during the first six months of 2009, totaling 2.41 million. Bisnis.com quotes Indonesia's Minister of Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, who points to the latest arrival statistics as proof that the world financial crisis is having minimum impact on the national tourism sector. Speaking in Bandung, West Java, Wacik said, "the graph showing this increase is gladdening because it happens in the middle of a crisis while visitors to several other tourism destinations have decreased."
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93 unlicensed travel guides were recently brought to trial after being caught operating at various tourism sites around Tabanan, such as Alas Kedaton, Tanah Lot and Ulun Danu. According to BeritaBali.com, the trials were held at Tabanan's District Court on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. The unlicensed guides, many hailing from outside Bali, were punished by the court with fines of Rp. 150,000 (10.50 euro) for violating the provincial law on tourism guiding.
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An official of the Department of Culture and Tourism has told the press that Indonesia is not capable of "vertical promotion" using international broadcast media due to a lack of needed funding. Nia Nurcaya, Director for Conferences, Incentives and Promotion of the Marketing Division of the Department of Culture and Tourism, said, "in terms of the vertical promotion of tourism, Indonesia is left far behind by other neighboring nations, such as Malaysia."
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A new twice-weekly direct air service flown by Shenzhen Airlines from Guangzhou (Canton) to Bali will cut 7 hours traveling time from the previous 12 hours it took to fly that route. Previously Chinese travelers faced the arduous prospect flying to Bali with an intermediate stop-over in Jakarta, a trip now reduced to only four hours with the launch of the direct flight service.
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Final arrival figures through the end of February 2009 are now in hand from immigration authorities at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport that confirm that while Bali is enjoying a record strong start to 2009, it may also be sitting at the crest of a cimminent downturn. January-February arrivals totaled 304,013 - a 3.05% improvement over the same two months in 2008 (295,025).
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Indonesia was ranked second in GoAsia's The Best Travel Destination in Asia after Thailand while Malaysia was placed as the third best, the Jakarta Post reported quoting the Indonesia Foreign Ministry as saying on Friday. Go Asia, a German tourism institution, invited travel agents from all over the world to participate in the voting process on Wednesday in Berlin. The body also gave awards for Asia's best tourism organizations or tourism boards, airlines and tour operators.
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Thai AirAsia - the Thailand associate of the AirAsia Group has announced the introduction of a daily Bangkok-Denpasar service effective January 20, 2009.
To kick-start the new Bali service Thai AirAsia is offering a special one-way introductory fare to Bali from Bangkok for only THB 999 (22 euro). Seats are very limited for this special offer which is being sold on a first-come-first-served basis.
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Indonesia is targeting 6.8 million foreign tourist visitors in 2009 with tourism officials insisting that the tourism sector will remain the "prima donna" of the nation's foreign exchange generators.
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Bisnis.com quotes Noviendi Makalam, the Secretary of the Directorate General of Marketing at the Department of Culture and Tourism as trying to gain some distance from previously stated targets, saying "the 8 million foreign tourists target and 6.4 billion euro in foreign exchange is the result a government-wide plan involving not only the Department of Culture and Tourism, but also other institutions including the Department of Finance."
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On Monday, October 27, 2008, the low-cost Australian carrier Jetstar commenced its new service between Perth and Denpasar (Bali). The Chief Executive Office of Jetstar, Bruce Buchanan, lauded the opening of Perth as the seventh international port for the airline, saying Western Australia was destined to make a major contribution to his airline's plans for overall expansion in Asia.
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Bisnis.com reports that Indonesia's Minister of Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, has called on Garuda Indonesia to increase flight frequencies between Denpasar and Melbourne from four times a week to five in order to meet strong market demand. "The route Denpasar-Melbourne is always packed with passengers, we need to add flight frequencies," explained Minister Wacik in remarks made at the opening of the Indonesian Tourism and Travel Fair 2008 in Jakarta.
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Bisnis.com quoted well known tourism observer Wuryastuti Sunario as saying she is pessimistic that the official national tourism target of 7 million visitors for 2008 can be achieved, bearing in mind that growth rates in national tourism reached only 11.43% during the first six months of the year.
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Indonesian tourism industry desires mutual support in developing tourism with Guangdong Province in China, an official from the Indonesian tourism and culture ministry said on Thursday. "We know that Guangdong is the province which attracts the most foreign tourists compared with other provinces in China," expert staff of Indonesian tourism and culture ministry Titien told.
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In a ceremony attended by officials of Garuda Indonesia, Singapore Airlines, the press, representatives of local tourism organizations and Bali government officials - the first arrival of Singapore Airlines' fourth daily flight was celebrated at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport on Friday, August 1, 2008.
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The foreign arrivals figures to Bali covering the first six months of 2008 are now in. Month-after-month of record breaking arrival totals support the increasingly popular view that 2008 will see 2 million plus foreign tourists pass through Bali's International airport - the first time Bali has penetrated the 2 million barrier.
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Lion Air will commence direct air service between Bali and Singapore starting from June 6, 2008. Operating the new service with Boeing 737-900ER aircraft, the CEO of the Airline, Rusdi Kirana, said he is confident that the new route will be popular with Lion Air customers, a feeling supported by the fact that tickets on the inaugural flights between the two destinations have been quickly snapped up by an eager public.
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The United States has lifted its warning against travel in Indonesia for the first time since the year 2000 when churches were bombed across the country. The US State Department has announced the lifting of its travel warning for Indonesia "after determining that the security climate in the country no longer warrants such a warning".
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An article in Nusa Bali has spotlighted growing concerns that a tourism mega-project on the nearby island of Lombok, currently being developed by the Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC), may represent strong future competition to Bali. Located in the southern part of the island, the Lombok project is being financed by an U.A.E. company, Emaar Properties at an estimated project cost of 400 million euro.
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Emaar Properties, the Dubai-based property developer with a significant presence in 36 markets globally, has accelerated its development plans for Indonesia with the opening of its country office in Jakarta. The office will steer the development of Emaar's first project in the country, the mega-tourism and mixed-use project in Lombok, and also explore new opportunities for growth.
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Bisnis Indonesia reports that AirAsia is interested in building a network of low-cost hotels in several locations across Indonesia, including Bali. Sendjaja Widjaja, the Deputy-Chairman, Indonesia, for AirAia, told the press that hotels to be built in Indonesia will pursue a low-cost formula in keeping with the carriers low-fare approach to the market.
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The government says it will add 350,00 seats each year on the air segment between Singapore and Bali in order to meet growing demand and sustain ambitious official tourism targets.
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The number of foreign tourists in Indonesia rose nearly 16 percent in February from a year ago, helped by a surge in visitors to the resort island of Bali, government data showed on Tuesday. The predominantly Hindu island of Bali, which accounted for about 40 percent of total foreign arrivals, has seen tourist numbers rebound after a slow recovery from the impact of suicide bomb attacks by Islamic militants in 2002 and 2005.
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Efforts by Bali's provincial House of Representatives to impose a "donation" on tourists passing through Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport has been strongly rejected by Jakarta who saw the imposition of an additional financial burden on Bali's tourists as unacceptable.
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The National News Agency Antara reports that 154,000 foreign tourists visited Bali in January 2008. While these figures remain preliminary until confirmed by yet-to-be-received official figures from Bali's immigration office, the 154,000 tally suggests a record-breaking start to 2008, exceeding arrival totals for January 2007 (109,504) by a whopping +40.63%.
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The Papua Tourism Office is planning to hold te Lake Sentani Festival between 16 and 19 July 2008 to support the Baliem Valley Festival that will be held in the district of Jayawijaya in August 2008. "The Lake Sentani Festival will be held as an effort to protect the culture of the Jayapura District, mainly in the Sentani Lake area," told Elly Weror, head of the Papua Tourism Office.
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The resort island of Bali is expected to organize 17 festivals, 14 of which are already approved by the Minister for Arts and Tourism, to celebrate the "Visit Indonesia Year 2008", according to local media on Sunday. The festivals were expected to attract tourists to visit Bali, Antara news agency quoted head of the Bali Chapter of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) Ir Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati as saying.
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With the theme 'Plan Your Holidays Ahead', the Indonesia International Travel Fair 2008 which is considered to be an important event in the Visit Indonesia Year (VIY 2008) calendar of events, will be held on 27-30 March 2008. Balai Kartini Expo, located at the heart of Jakarta, was chosen to be the venue for IITF 2008 which is a one-day B2B and a 3-day consumer show where the Jakarta consumers can purchase domestic and international travel packages at very special prices.
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Travel Trade Gazette's (TTG) Mimi Hudoyo reports that the Indonesian Department of Culture and Tourism is seeking agreement to change current visa regulations to permit visa-free short visits from 10 countries.
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Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) has announced their intention to open an additional operational base in Bali as the next step to establishing a regional presence for the Carrier. The Chief Officer of IAA, Dharmadi, told Bisnis Indonesia that the new Bali home base will commence operations in late March 2008, serving as a turn around point for new flights planned to Darwin and Perth in Australia.
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The Indonesian Culture and Tourism Ministry has launched "Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) 2008" in an effort to attract more foreign tourists to the country, the Antaranews agency reported on Thursday. Indonesian Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik officially declared the start of VIY 2008 at a function in the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Wednesday night, the report said.
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What is almost certainly Bali's - and perhaps Asia's most unique dining venue has opened with the inauguration of the Tsavo Lion Restaurant at the Bali Safari & Marine Park, located just 20 minutes east of Denpasar on the new Jalan Bypass Professor Ida Bagus Mantra highway.
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A grammatical error in the 'Visit Indonesia 2008' campaign - to be found on airplanes, websites and advertisements - has to be fixed, said an official at the Ministry of Tourism on Wednesday. The slogan of the campaign reads 'Celebrating 100 years of nation's awakning'. 'Nation's', in correct English, should read 'national' or has to be preceded by a definite article.
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The Indonesian government will present medals to foreign tourists who have visited the country at least 20 times, a senior official said Wednesday. "We hope that by presenting the medals, we will encourage more foreign tourists to come to Indonesia," Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik was quoted by the national Antara news agency as saying.
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Jembrana Regency in the west of Bali has drawn up a plan to construct its own international airport, and is awaiting the go-ahead, and funds totaling some US$110 million, from the central government to proceed with the ambitious project, officials said. A feasibility study has just been completed on a Jembrana International City Airport, but there were indications of resistance to the project from the Bali government, said Regent I Gede Winasa.
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On October 7, 2007, The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have that Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport is once again considered to be compliant with the strict aviation safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The announcement reverses a December 23, 2005, declaration by the TSA stating the Bali airport fell below minimum safety standards that resulted in cautionary warnings to that effect being prominently posted at major airports across the U.S.A..
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Following several pronouncements expressing confidence that the target of 6 million foreign visitors to Indonesia would be achieved in 2007, Indonesia's Minister of Culture and Tourism is now expressing some misgivings as to whether national tourism targets can be achieved.
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The 28-year-old Indonesian singing star Inul Daratista has promised the organizers of the Fifth Kuta Karnival that she will take to the stage and contribute her talents to the event's closing ceremony scheduled to run from 3:00 p.m. until 7:00 pm. on the main stage of the festival on Kuta Beach on Sunday, September 9, 2007.
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PT Angkasa Pura I is targeting to commence operations of a new international airport in Lombok, Bali's near neighbor to the east, by 2010. To be built at an estimated cost of Rp. 665 billion (approximately 51.95 million euro), the new airport for Lombok will be located in the central province of that island. Construction on the new Lombok air gateway commenced in 2006 and is expected to be completed by 2009, with formal operations to commence the following year.
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Sometimes you have those days that you want to enjoy the evening after a day of traveling around. This enjoying will work perfectly having a cold beer and some company. Earlier that day I had enjoyed the celebrations of Independence Day in and around Yogyakarta and after that I headed for Jalan Malioboro to do some shopping. That has to be done as well, and to combine it with something good, I decided to look for a place in one of the many bars or restaurants in the first small street off Jalan Malioboro, Jalan Sosrowijayan.
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Foreign tourists find their way to Indonesia once again after some sluggish years. After almost five years, Bali is back to normal with tourist arrivals around or higher than in the months for the Bali bombs, and elsewhere in Indonesia, tourists visit the cities they most love. Indahnesia.com knows this and has recently started offering hotel bookings for hundreds of hotels throughout many parts of Indonesia.
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Taj Hamaad, an Advisor to the Dubai-based Group Emaar International Properties, has confirmed that they will invest 600 million euro in a new tourism resort development in Lombok, an island just east of Bali. According to Hamaad, technical agreements and final a final memorandum of understanding (MOA) are now being hammered out prior to ground-breaking ceremonies planned for later this year.
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After more than one month undergoing a scheduled major overhaul in a Surabaya dry-dock, Bali Hai II has returned to Bali and resumed its daily schedule of island cruises to Nusa Lembongan and evening dinner cruises.
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Indonesia has expanded the visa on arrival (VoA) facility to 11 more countries and is currently considering 11 more countries in an attempt to lure foreign tourists to the country. The 11 newly granted countries are Algeria, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Panama, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Tunisia. The Directorate General of Immigration announced yesterday that based on a decree, citizens from a total of 63 countries are now able to enjoy a visa on arrival.
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The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has set a target of 116 million tourists visiting the different tourist objects accross Indonesia for this year. "This target is higher than that of last year which was set at 114 million," said Titien Soekarya, director for Domestic Tourism Promotion.
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As reported on balidiscovery.com, total foreign arrivals during the first four months of 2007 totaled 472,082 - representing an improvement of +38.38% over the same four months in 2006 and the strongest start to any year on record. The graphics presented here in 'Bali by the Numbers' examining Bali's top four source markets for the first four months of each year from 2000 - 2007 show:
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Indonesia's tourist industry is experiencing a boom as the nation has the highest number of foreign arrivals since 2001. This year around six million tourists are expected to visit the country. Thamrin Bachri, director-general of tourism at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said that the government is focusing on visitors from the Middle East as well. 60.000 tourists from that region visited Indonesia last year, while this number is expected to grow to 100.000 this year and to 150.000 in 2008.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a program to promote Indonesian provinces in other countries. The program, named 'Updates from the regions', is to promote the provinces periodically and it started last Tuesday with the promotion of Riau, as was told by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hassan Wirajuda.
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Indonesia's Minister of Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, recently told a business meeting in Bali that the construction of new accommodation in Badung and Denpasar must come to an end with current rooms on offer far exceeding market demand.
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The total number of domestic airline passengers nation-wide in Indonesia decreased -9.69% in the first three months of 2007, totaling 6.119 million as compared to the 6.775 million in the same period in 2006. The downturn in domestic passengers may be due to a collective fear of flying following the a series of air disasters during the first three months of the year and negative government safety warnings affecting all Indonesian domestic carriers.
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The number of foreign tourists arriving in Indonesia in the first quarter of 2007 was recorded at just over one million. That is a rise of over 14 percent from the same period last year when the figure stood at 877,000. The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia in March 2007 was 361,800 - an increase by more than 15 percent from March last year, told chairman Rusman Heriawan from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) earlier today.
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As part of Bali's continuing commitment to security, all major hotels in Bali are obliged to undergo a thorough security audit conducted by the Bali Police. Each security review is carried out by a team of officers from the Bali Police headquarters and addresses personnel issues, equipment, physical facilities, security software, training and public order issues.
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Apparently higher admission fees for both domestic and international visitors to Bali's iconic Pura Tanah Lot are having no ill-effect on the number of visitors eager to view the photograph the idyllic water-bound religious shrine just off Bali's western shoreline. According to the management of Puri Tanah Lot, visitors have increased 34.35% over the past three months despite an increase in admission fees.
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The Indonesian government is preparing the visa on arrival facility for 11 more countries in a bid to increase revenues from the tourism industry, as local press reported earlier today. A senior official with the Foreign Affairs Ministry had named the 11 countries likely to receive the visa on arrival as being Algeria, Czech Republic, Fiji, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Panama, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Tunisia.
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The Tourism Authority on Bali will continue conducting operations to catch foreigners working as a tourist guide in Bali, as was told by an official. "Foreigners who violate immigration regulations by working as tourist guides in Bali will be brought to court," said Made Suhadana, chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Guides Association (HPI).
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The Indonesian-language Bisnis Indonesia reports that foreign tourist arrivals via the Nation's 15 main international gateways increased 13.59% totaling 639,900 during the first two months of 2007. Arrivals during the same period in 2006 achieved 563,499. Meanwhile, as reported on balidiscovery.com, Bali's aggregate arrivals for January and February 2007 totaled 227,779 - a 47.73% increase over the same period in 2006(154,151).
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The Indonesian language website Bisnis.com reports that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on the Department of Culture and Tourism to optimize their work, be smarter and more creative in developing national tourism. The President's comments were made at the opening of a 3-day national coordinating meeting on culture and tourism held at the National Palace in Jakarta.
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Indonesia has announced that foreign visitors will soon have the chance to apply for a longer visa than the current 30-day visa on arrival. Vice President Jusuf Kalla told AFP that foreigners visiting Indonesia will be able to apply for visas up to 120 days, longer than most other countries in the region.
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In an attempt to boost the declining number of foreign visitors to Indonesia, the government will re-open a dozen international tourism offices this year, local media reports said Tuesday. Indonesia missed its tourist arrival target of 5.5 million in 2006, with only 4.8 million foreign visitors to the country, according to Tourism Minister Jero Wacik. Indonesia has set a target of 6 million foreign visitors for this year and 8 million in 2009.
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Tourist arrivals into Indonesia dropped in 2006 by 4.1% in comparison to 2005, recording just over 4.79 million visitors, so this year at the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) the delegates hope to generate a more positive beat for Indonesia. The Indonesian Ministry of Cultura and Tourism and industry representatives this year will be concentrating their energies toward TRAVEX at ATF, with 49 hospitality properties and 18 tour operators.
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As the tropical monsoon clouds roll in, obscuring the towering volcanos along the Bali coastline, the pristine neighboring island of Lombok seems a world away from Indonesia's premier tourist destination. In fact, it almost is.
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The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia between January and November 2006 dropped by 4.60 percent compared to that in the same period of the previous year, head of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Rusman Heriawan said. Foreign tourists visiting Indonesia through 13 gates between January and November, 2006, numbered 3,59 million or decreased by 4.60 percent compared to 3.76 million in 2005, Rusman said here Tuesday.
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Indonesia has complained to Australia that its travel warning system is harming its economy, deterring new investment and forcing language students to other countries.
Australia promised Indonesia it would review its advisory system but Jakarta could be left sorely disappointed by the outcome, with the Government saying its citizens will always be its top priority.
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Hotels are opening, a new condominium hotel and elite villa projects are enticing buyers and a new selection of chapels is available to couples who want an island wedding surrounded by bright blue seas. That is how Bali always wants it to be.
But growth in the commercial property segment has been slow and painful, coming against the backdrop of two tragedies: the bombing in October 2002 that killed 202 people, mostly Australian tourists, and a second one in October 2005 that killed 26.
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The Indonesian government has granted visa-on-arrival facility for Swedish visitors to increase tourist visits from the European country, an official said here Wednesday. "The facility aims to increase international visitors and strengthen bilateral ties," immigration office spokesman Soepriatna Anwar said.
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The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia in 2005 decreased to 4.07 million people, or 10. 28 percent lower than in 2004, Statistic Bureau announced here Wednesday. The bureau chief Choirul Maksum told a press conference that the number of foreign tourists coming to the Indonesis's beautiful resort of Bali island in December last year rose to 81,000 people, or 19.81 percent lower than in the previous month.
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Singapore-based budget carrier Valuair said Thursday it will launch a three-times weekly service to Indonesia's resort island of Bali with fares starting from S$88 (US$54) for a one way trip. The inaugural flight to Bali will start Friday, Valuair said in a statement.
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Foreign tourist arrivals to Bali fell 48.4 pct in October compared to the preceding month in the wake of suicide bombings there, official figures showed. The number of foreign visitors to Bali in October stood at 86,800, down from September's 168,200, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics. 'The drop is directly related to the Bali bombings II on Oct 1, 2005,' the bureau said in a release posted on its website.
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Malaysia's low-cost carrier AirAsia said Sunday it soon hopes to fly to Brunei and to new destinations in Indonesia and Cambodia following the arrival of two new Airbus A320 aircraft in December. "We are waiting for approval to fly to Brunei from Kuala Lumpur," AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes told AFP.
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Indonesia and Singapore have developed a joint tourism promotion campaign in order to make full use of Indonesia’s well-known resort island of Bali and Singapore’s world-renowned airlines, Singapore Airlines. Indonesian Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik told reporters in Jakarta that under the promotion, foreign tourists to Singapore, particularly Chinese, Indian and Middle-Eastern tourists, will be given discounts on visits to Indonesia.
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The latest Bali bombings threaten to ruin the island's tourism industry just as it was recovering from terrorist attacks three years ago, with at least one regional government urging its citizens to stay away and tour operators predicting an immediate drop in visitors.
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Statistically two-thirds of the way through 2005, foreign direct arrivals to Bali have set new records for arrivals with recent performance in some markets suggesting that demand may have peaked and is now entering into a plateau.
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Malaysians travelling to Indonesia for any reason other than a social visit are required to obtain a visa , the Malaysian Immigration Department said. It said in a statement that this was to avoid any legal action against them by any of the Indonesian authorities for abuse of the social visit pass. The visa can be obtained at the Indonesian embassy or consular offices in the country.
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Singapore and Indonesia have joined hands in launching the first ever tourist promotion scheme in China in a bid to attract more Chinese tourists. According to the scheme, Chinese tourists will be able to appreciate the beautiful scenery in Singapore and Indonesia, such as the Sentosa island in Singapore and Bali island in Indonesia.
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It is now confirmed that the 14 additional countries slated for visa on arrival facility in Indonesia (TTG Asia, July 8 issue) will be able to do so from August 1. This brings to 36 the number of countries eligible for the facility.
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For the second time, the New York-based tourism magazine Travel + Leisure named Bali as the world's best tourist island in 2005. "We have been received confirmation from the magazine's editor. An appreciation ceremony will be held on July 14," an Indonesian diplomat in New York, Kristio Wahyono, said.
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Indonesia's tourist industry is expected to contribute about US$6 billion to the nation's income this year, up from only $4.8 billion targeted in 2004, an official said on Thursday.
"If the security condition is stable over the next few months, it's not impossible that we'll reach the target," Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik said at the opening of the 2005 Archipelagic Tourism Extravaganza.
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 A cut-price Thai holiday airline has been banned from flying to Britain after a safety scare during April in which passengers staged a rebellion when they saw fuel leaking from a wing. Phuket Air, which was used by several leading tour operators including Kuoni and Thomson Holidays, has had its operating licences suspended in Britain and its other European destination, the Netherlands.
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