[johannes]

Quelle: thejakartapost
Link: www.thejakartapost.com/bali.asp

Mixed feelings about tourist surge in Bali Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
After planning a relaxing day shopping at Kuta's Discovery Mall, Intan Indahsari spent a large chunk of her morning sitting in Jakarta-like traffic.
"The traffic has never been this bad," the Sanur resident said.
Bali was visited by thousands of domestic tourists during the Idul Fitri holiday, including many who decided to bring their own vehicles with them.
While tourism industry officials were happy with the rising number of tourists visiting the resort island, local residents were frustrated with the traffic chaos they contributed to.
"It is really frustrating. I wish tourists were not allowed to bring their own vehicles to the island," Intan said.
Traffic congestion at popular tourist sites has been an annual problem in Bali during Idul Fitri. This year, with an official period of leave set by the government until Oct. 19, traffic was worse than in previous years, Intan said.
At night, airport taxi drivers refused to take passengers to Kuta in fear of being caught up in traffic jams.
"Several drivers who went to Kuta a few hours ago have not returned yet," one taxi driver said Tuesday.
On ordinary days, the drive from the airport to Kuta takes about 15 minutes.
Holidaymaker Priska Siagian, 25, said getting a taxi from the airport to take her to Denpasar was a difficult mission.
"A taxi driver at first refused to take me. He asked me to wait for an hour because he was tired after being stuck in Kuta," she said.
Bali Tourism Agency head Gede Nurjaya acknowledged the problem, saying the island was facing a unique dilemma.
"It is very good for Bali to receive a lot of visitors. However, popular tourist places cannot hold so much traffic, which in the end results in traffic jams," he said.
"We definitely cannot stop people from bringing their own cars to the island, as some tourists come here after visiting other cities," he said.
Holidaymaker Yetty Priyono, 45, and her family said bringing their own car to the island was fun, despite the fact they had to deal with traffic jams.
The family spent the holiday traveling from Jakarta to Salatiga and Semarang in Central Java, to Surabaya and Banyuwangi in East Java and to Bali after crossing the Bali Strait by ferry.
"We have more freedom with our own car. We don't really mind the traffic jams, we just joke around in the car a lot," Yetty said.
She said her family would not hesitate to take the road trip to Bali again.
"It was really fun for us," she said.
Nurjaya said the traffic problem was caused by the fact most tourists visited the same few tourist attractions.
"Domestic tourists swarm to Kuta, Nusa Dua, Sanur and Kintamani. There are a lot of other places as well," Nurjaya said.
He said his agency was endeavoring to promote other areas of interest, especially in the Karangesem and Klungkung regencies.
"There are a lot of tourist destinations in these areas that are as beautiful as the well-known places. Ujung and Candi Dasa in Karangasem are examples," he said.
Klungkung regency is home to the islands of Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Penida and Nusa Ceningan, he added.
"If tourists were drawn away from the regular places and were spread out across the island, it would overcome traffic problems in Kuta," Nurjaya said.


Ist es z.Zt. wirklich so schlimm?