Bali rebounds minus Aussies

Brisbanetimes

Hoteliers in Bali have blamed Qantas for sluggish bookings out of Australia, as travelers complain about a lack of flights to the increasingly upmarket resort island.

Some passengers have reported waiting months to get suitable flights, with Qantas and Garuda Indonesia slow to reinstate Australian services that were cut following the October 2005 bombings.

That terrorist attack, the second in three years, killed 20 people including four Australians and sparked mass booking cancellations.

Bali's tourism numbers have now bounced back and the island is shedding its reputation as a budget backpackers haunt.

Foreign arrivals rose 38 per cent to 472,082 during the first four months of this year 2007, marking the strongest start to any year on record.

However, Australian visitors dropped 36 per cent over the same period, in stark contrast to firm numbers from Japan, Europe and emerging markets like Russia.

Michael Burchett, chairman of the Bali Hotels Association and general manager of the Conrad Bali Resort & Spa, said the lack of airline capacity was the biggest hurdle to getting Australians back to Bali.

"The demand is there from Australia, but there's no interest or willingness from Qantas to resume flights," said Burchett, originally from Perth.

"You can't get a flight out of Perth for months, and if you're in Brisbane you have to go to Sydney or Melbourne.

"It's just ridiculous. Garuda is doing what it can, but it doesn't have the financial strength, so the Australian recovery has been hamstrung by the lack of support from Qantas.

"Well keep waving the white flag and maybe someone will see it soon."

Georgia Fell-Smith, an Australian spa consultant from Perth who lives in Bali, said the current situation posed problems.

"I always have trouble booking with Qantas," she said.

"The problem is I much prefer to fly with Qantas because of its strong safety record and the opportunity to earn frequent flyer points, but they make it so difficult because they only fly twice a week."

Fell-Smith was booked to fly back to Perth to search for a wedding dress on May 29, but canceled because she could not return to Bali on her desired dates with either Qantas or Garuda.

She will now make the trip in July, using a Qantas flight booked four months ago.

Qantas flies twice a week to Bali from Perth and Darwin, while its budget arm Jetstar flies twice a week from Melbourne and Sydney. Garuda flies every day from Perth, four times a week from Melbourne and Sydney, and twice a week from Darwin.

A Qantas spokesperson said an additional flight would be added to the Perth-Denpasar route between August 5 and October 21 this year, but there were no plans at this stage to expand services from any other cities.

"Qantas will continue to monitor the route and make changes as demand increases," the spokesperson said.

Collapsed Bali airline Air Paradise is reportedly looking at a comeback, while Singapore-based low-budget carrier Tiger Airways has also hinted at possible flights between Bali and Australia.

However, hoteliers said Australia needed a full-service airline to cater for higher-end tourists and business travellers who were finding a new, fashionable edge to the island.

Not far from Kuta's cheap bungalows and rowdy pubs, some hotels - like the exclusive Amandari and recently opened Bulgari Resort - charge thousands of dollars a night per room, and ferry passengers to the airport by helicopter, while restaurants in chic Seminyak do a brisk trade in French champagne and freshly shucked Sydney oysters.

"Rather than treating Bali as a cheap beach destination, the expansion of the luxury hotel and villa market shows it is anything but," said Adrian Forsyth, general manager of Kuta's mid-range Bali Garden Hotel.

"Bali is now a luxury destination and while tourism is returning to normal, the airlines have been slow to respond to that.

"We're grateful for Jetstar's entrance into the market, but Bali really needs Qantas to serve this higher-end clientèle, who are willing to pay Qantas rates and want Qantas-style service."

AAP