Bali named best leisure destination

Ni Komang Erviani, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Mon, 08/23/2010 11:04 AM | Bali
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Bali has gained further global recognition as the island was recently named “The Best Leisure Destination in Asia Pacific” by readers of Business Traveler magazine published in Hong Kong.

In a statement to the Bali Tourism Board (BTB), the magazine’s managing director, Peggy Teo, said the nomination was based on a readers’ survey conducted from April to June this year. The award for the nomination will be presented at an official event in Hong Kong next month.

“We hope the Bali governor will attend the event to represent Bali in receiving this award,” BTB chairman Ngurah Wijaya said Saturday.

Wijaya said the award would improve the island’s image internationally. “This is once again global recognition that Bali is the best tourist destination. We should be proud.”

“The world will take not of this award, and this will make Bali more popular among foreign tourists.”

Bali has received more than 10 international awards as a favorite tourist destination, the tourism agency said.

US publication Travel and Leisure magazine named Bali “The Best Island in The World” for nine consecutive years from 2001 to 2009. The island was also acknowledged as “The Best Spa Destination 2009” by SENSES magazine published in Germany.

In January, Ubud was awarded “The Best City in Asia” by travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler.

In response to the award, Bali should work on its flaws, especially infrastructure, Wijaya said.

“Our infrastructure is poor. We should improve this so tourists won’t be disappointed,” he said.

Ngurah Rai International Airport remains the priority as the airport can no longer accommodate the rising number of tourists, he said.

He said new hotels continue to sprout up, causing unhealthy business competition. Currently, there are more than 50,000 hotel rooms in Bali.

If the condition persists, Wijaya went on, it is feared that Bali would be known as a budget destination. This could be damaging to the island’s tourism. He said the administration’s plan to build an airport in northern Bali could be a long-term solution “but we can’t rely on it and we should have a short-term solution”.

A short-term solution he suggested was that the administration upgrade Ngurah Rai airport to make it possible for larger aircraft to land there. He added, “if expanding the airport is impossible, the administration should stop issuing licenses for new hotels.”

Tourism agency head Ida Bagus Subhiksu said he was proud of the award, saying it would promote Bali and would hopefully increase tourist arrivals.

Subhiksu said the award should motivate the island to make some improvements. “Although we have been awarded the best destination, many problems persist, mainly with regards to cleanliness and traffic jams. We should improve this.”

As of June this year, 1.2 million foreign tourists, mostly from Australia, Japan and China, have visited the island, a 13 percent increase from the same period last year.