Bali tourism, after having been in the dark shadows of terrorist activities, may soon be on the road to recovery. The US government has endorsed the Indonesian tourism capital by lifting its almost decade-long travel advisory.

The move is expected to have a domino effect on Bali’s tourism, with other countries following the US action.

“The US government has lifted the warning due to objective improvements made by the Indonesian government in its current security situation,” said an official statement from the US embassy in Indonesia, emailed to media organizations.

In 2000, the US State Department issued a travel warning following several bombings in the country’s capital, Jakarta.

The twin Bali bombings in 2002 resulted in the death of more than 240 foreign tourists, mostly Australians on holiday in the island who died as a result of the explosions, blamed on the regional Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network.

Every year since then both the Australian and Indonesian governments have held a remembrance ceremony in Bali as a mark of respect to those who died in the bombings. However, Australia, which claims 88 Australian tourists were killed in the first Bali bombing, is yet to lift its travel advisory.

The Indonesian government has since then prosecuted and convicted winning praise from the international community due to Bali’s attractions as a holiday destination.

“The Indonesian government has disrupted, arrested and prosecuted numerous terrorist elements,” said US Ambassador Cameron Hume, adding there has been “significant” improvements in the country’s security situation.

Ambassador Hume said he expects more US businessmen, tourists and scholars to visit Indonesia following Sunday’s announcement, “helping to expand trade, tourism and educational exchange between both countries.”

Increased security precautions since the bombings include sweeping cars for bombs using metal detectors at hotels, shopping malls and other public buildings.

In a statement following the US announcement, Dino Djala, spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said the US move is a very good and positive sign. “It will help remove psychological barriers that have prevented Americans and others from going to Indonesia.”

Major General Ansyaad Mbai, Indonesia’s anti-terror official, was quoted as saying, “It will push us to be more effective in handling security matters. The US decision would not slow our efforts to battle extremists.”

By Yusof Sulaiman. 

Source: Travel Video

The Guinness 9 Ball Tour in Aug 31-Sep 2 last year saw a fitting finale in Indonesia.

Indonesia has historically been known as an exotic land where the people are as warm as the yearlong sunshine, and nowhere is this more apparent than on the island of Bali.

Located just off the Eastern tip of the major island of Java, this exotic crown jewel of the Indonesian archipelago was the venue of the Grand Finals of the Guinness 9 Ball Tour 2007, welcoming to its sandy shores a host of 10 of Asia’s best 9-ball pool players.

Tropical paradise: Bali played host to the Guinness 9 Ball Tour Grand Finals in 2007, which saw 10 of Asia’s top pool players converging on this Indonesian island for their chance at winning the coveted title.

Held from Aug 31-Sept 2 at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, the final and most eagerly anticipated leg of Asia’s most prestigious pool tournament was played out in emphatic fashion by Asia’s top cue-masters. Having picked up the most qualifying points over the first five legs of this tournament, which were held in diverse locales like Jakarta, Kaohsiung, Genting Highlands, Singapore and Shanghai before arriving here, these 10 players were the best from an already elite pool of champions.

Featuring the likes of former World Pool Association (WPA) Champions Wu Chia-Ching from Chinese Taipei, Ronato “Ronnie” Alcano from the Phillipines, upcoming Taiwanese cueist Chang Jung-Lin, Malaysian pool stalwart Ibrahim Amir, and newcomer Dharminder Singh Lilly from India, the finalists came with impressive credentials.

It all came down to a nail-biting finale, which saw Chang Jung-Lin of Taiwan going head-to-head against Lee Vann Corteza of the Philippines to determine who would walk away with the title, as well as the prize money of US$36,000.

Both played exceedingly well, but in the end, Chang Jung-Lin triumphed over his worthy competitor 11-8. Jung-Lin was ecstatic over his win.

“Now that I’ve won my first international title, it gives me immense relief and joy because it means that all my years of training has finally come to fruition. It’s more than just the monetary reward – it’s about being recognised as an international player that makes this victory mean so much to me,” he said.

Taking aim: Lee Vann Corteza places his shot and pockets the ball with pinpoint accuracy against Chang Jung-Lin at the finals of the Guinness 9 Ball Tour Grand Finals in Bali.

To spread the excitement before this grand finale, the organisers had four other cities in Indonesia – Medan, Bandung, Surabaya and Jakarta – host a speed pool tournament for amateur pool players. Known as the Guinness Black Challenge, these initiatives gave pool aficionados the chance to participate in a unique test of their skill, speed and strategy, as well as get the opportunity to go to the Grand Finals in Bali and hang out with all the professional players there.

Certainly it was a prize worth savouring for any pool fan!

The Guinness 9 Ball Tour is the ultimate stage for world-class pool professionals and offers a unique opportunity as a development ground for Asia’s top pool players to compete against each other.

The top 10 players who participated in 2007’s inaugural Grand Final in Bali not only stood the chance to win their share of US$70,000, but also earned an automatic berth in the World Pool Association Championships to make their mark on a truly global stage.

With so much having happened at last year’s grand final, you can surely expect the bar to be raised for this year. Guinness, the number one international premium black beer in the world, is proud to continue its position as the title sponsor of the 9 Ball Tour.

The Guinness 9 Ball Tour is sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU) and organised by ESPN STAR Sports’ Event Management Group (EMG). This year, the tour will bring all the skills, tactics and prestige of Asia’s most prestigious 9-Ball Tour to Malaysia with the third leg of the tournament taking place in Genting Highlands Resort from 30 May to 1 June.

We are the champions: Chang Jung-Lin accepts his trophy and cash prize after a thoroughly engaging match against Lee Vann Corteza.

With a convergence of 24 of Asia’s best pool players in one venue, where they will showcase all their skills and accuracy as they vie to win this leg, while racking up more points to qualify for the finals to be held in Jakarta this year, there isn’t anywhere else that any self-respecting pool fan should be at than in Genting.

Be sure to find out more details on how to get tickets for this can’t miss leg of the tournament, as well as other information on Asia’s most prestigious pool tournament at www.guinness.com.my

Source: The Star

The Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel, Bali, has just completed an extensive renovation of all its higher room categories and is ready to offer guests a more comfortable experience within an ambiance of resort tranquillity.

All 101 rooms, which consist of the balcony room, pool view room, deluxe room and suites, have been renovated with the hotel tagline of “Refreshingly Different” in mind. All rooms now feature a modern contemporary Balinese look, marble flooring, and warm colors that deliver a soothing ambience for guests.

All these higher room categories are located around the 110m long lagoon swimming pool and offer a tranquil environment to absorb the relaxing ambience of the resort.

Source: Hotels Magazine

Last year, 204,473 Australians visited Bali, up from 137,000 in 2006. Only the Japanese outstrip us in their enthusiasm for the beautiful island.

If that kind of growth continues, then 2008 will beat the 2004 record of 267,500.

But while Australian tourists have confidence in Bali, our Government does not and this is causing angst among a group of Australians involved in the tourism industry there.

The Little Bali Hotel and Resort Company argues it is time for the Government to reconsider its grade-four warning for Bali, especially in the light of DFAT’s downgrade of its Kenya warning from a grade four “reconsider your need to travel” advisory to a grade three “[exercise a] high degree of caution” recommendation.

The group’s founding member, Adrian Forsyth, says much work and resources have gone into keeping Bali’s key tourist areas safe.

“Local authorities regularly sweep all local residential areas to ensure that all people living in the area have the right to be there and police posts and vehicle inspection points have been erected on many streets entering the Kuta/Legian areas,” says Forsyth, who manages the Bali Garden Hotel in Tuban and the Samsara Hotel and Spa in Kuta.

“The Australian Government attitude continues to amaze us all,” he says.

“Just last December, Bali hosted the United Nations conference on climate change, which involved government ministers and heads of state from around the world - including the new Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

“If it is safe enough for the PM to come here, why does DFAT continue to warn Australians against travelling to Bali?”

… and flavour

One Australian doing her bit to lure tourists to Bali and beyond is Maeve O’Meara. The energetic writer, television presenter and founder of Gourmet Safaris has added a Bali “girls-only” trip to her company’s schedule this year.

“It is such an incredible destination,” says O’Meara. The inaugural Bali Gorgeous Safari, from May 18 to 23, will be at the Warwick Ibah Resort in Ubud, owned by expat Asri Kerthyasa, who has lived in Bali for 30 years after marrying a Balinese prince.

O’Meara, who operates numerous gourmet trips around Sydney as well as taking international trips for both men and women, decided three years ago there was a gap in the market for female-only tours.

Vietnam was her first destination. It struck a chord, she says, as five-star resorts, shopping and spa treatments tend to appeal to women.

“In that time we have had only one man on these trips; brave soul that he was.      

“And while he enjoyed it, we all agreed it was best to keep the Gorgeous Safaris exclusively female. Men tend not to want to try the 15th shoe shop looking for that perfect pair of shoes.”

As well as Bali, Gourmet Safaris has three more women-only trips to Vietnam and will launch into Thailand on June 8-15.

See www.gourmetsafaris.com.au

By Kay O’Sullivan. 

Source: The Age

Bali appears to have remained a main destination for Australians as the number of Australian tourists visiting Bali is only second to that of Japanese tourists, a local statistical official said.

Some 204,473 Australian tourists were among a total of 1,666,079 foreign tourists who visited Bali in 2007, the head of the local statistical bureau, Ida Komang Wisnu, said on Tuesday.

He said it was a significant increase compared with 2006 when the figure was only 137,000.

Meanwhile, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Indonesia in 2007 was recorded at 351,633, while tourists from Taiwan were in the third place with 138,849 people.

He said some of the tourists came to Bali not only for a vacation but also for business.

The head of the local foreign trade office, Ni Wayan Kusumawathi, separately said realization of Bali`s exports of handicraft and other non-oil/non-gas commodities to Australia increased to US$29 million, compared with only US25 million in 2006.

Indonesia has set itself the target of attracting seven million foreign tourists this year through its Visit Indonesia Year 2008 program.

Many provinces, including Papua, have prepared special packages to attract foreign tourists.

Source: TravelVideo

Japanese outbound travel continues to slow, including to Hawaii.

For the year to date through November, Japanese arrivals to Hawaii dropped 3.5 percent to 1.2 million total visitors.

Hawaii remains the fourth most popular draw for Japanese, after China and South Korea, which are primarily of business travel destinations, and France.

Also according to the Japan National Travel Association, travel to the U.S. Mainland has declined 6.2 percent through November, while travel to Canada is down 14.8 percent through October.

Australia, New Zealand, Guam and the Northern Marianas also are seeing fewer Japanese travelers.

However, Japanese travel to Bali, Indonesia, is up 40.7 percent, while trips to Macau have increased 34.4 percent.

Source: Pacific Business News

Bali’s reviving tourism industry has experienced a rise in the number of visitors from South Korea, who have long been considered the “non-traditional” tourist market for Indonesia.

Based on a figure from Bali’s tourism agency, as reported by Antara on Monday, the number of South Korean tourists rose by 54.1 percent to 121,858 last year from 79,072 in 2006. The agency forecasts the rising trend to continue this year.

The figure ranked Korea fourth after Japan, Australia and Taiwan as the countries that contributed the most foreign visitors to Bali last year.

Source: The Jakarta Post

The setting of a limit on how much global temperatures are allowed to increase is an inherently political process.

The UN-led climate change conference in Bali will be remembered less for the “road map” that it eventually created than for a messy collision between the US and much of the rest of the world that kept onlookers transfixed. Environmental campaigners vilified the US for resisting EU pressure to pre-commit to specific temperature targets — namely, that global warming should be limited to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures.

This target has become a veritable commandment of campaigners since the EU embraced it in 1996. The media often refer to it, sometimes saying that unless it is met, climate change would be very dangerous for humanity. In fact, the target is not scientifically backed, and the suggestion that we could achieve it is entirely implausible.

Stopping temperatures from rising by more than 2°C would require draconian, instant emission reductions — for the OECD the reductions would have to be between 40 percent and 50 percent below their expected path in just 12 years. Even if political consensus could be found, the cost would be phenomenal: one model estimates that the total global cost would be around US$84 trillion, while the economic benefits would amount to just a seventh of this amount.

The suspiciously round figure of 2?C provides one clue to the fact this target is not based in science. The first peer-reviewed study that analyzed it, published last year, scathingly described it as being supported by “thin arguments, based on inadequate methods, sloppy reasoning, and selective citation from a very narrow set of studies.”

COSTS AND BENEFITS

In any case, a temperature limit is obviously a political rather than a scientific statement. Setting a limit means weighing up the costs and benefits of a world with temperatures at one level, and comparing them with the costs and benefits if we were to turn down the thermostat. This is an inherently political process.

Deciding how much we should let temperatures rise is like working out how many people should die in traffic accidents by adjusting the speed limit. There is no scientifically “correct” number of traffic deaths. Ideally, the number should be zero. But that would require lowering the limit to walking speed — at an immense cost to society. 

It has been widely reported that the UN’s climate change panel (the IPCC) tells us that science shows that industrial countries’ emissions should be reduced by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020. This is simply incorrect: the IPCC’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientists are “policy neutral.”

Yet many journalists reported from Bali that the US had rejected the science of the 25 percent to 40 percent emission reduction. They lamented how the science in the final document had been relegated to a footnote, stressing how shortsighted, national self-interest had won out. But this interpretation is flatly wrong. If we look at the reference in the Bali footnote, the IPCC clearly says that emissions should be reduced 25 percent to 40 percent if you choose the low EU target but 0 percent to 25 percent or less if you choose a higher target. Nevertheless, like many newspapers, the International Herald Tribune wrote that the IPCC assessment said “that the temperature rise had to be limited to 2°C.”

Our one-sided focus on rapid reductions in CO2 emissions is both unnecessarily expensive and unlikely to succeed. At the Rio summit in 1992, we promised to cut emissions by 2000, yet overshot the target by 12 percent. In Kyoto in 1997, we promised even more radical emission cuts by 2010, which we will miss by 25 percent. Making ever-stronger promises on top of ever more failed promises is hardly the right way forward.

SMARTER OPTIONS

Instead, we should look for smarter policy options, like aiming to ensure that alternative energy technologies at reasonable prices will be available within the next 20 to 40 years. This could be achieved if all countries committed to spending 0.05 percent of GDP on research and development of non-carbon-emitting energy technologies. The cost — a relatively minor US$25 billion per year — would be almost 10 times cheaper than the Kyoto Protocol (and many more times cheaper than a standard Kyoto II). Yet it would increase R&D globally 10-fold.

Moreover, while it would embrace all countries, the rich would pay the larger share. It would let each country focus on its own vision of future energy needs, whether that means concentrating on renewable sources, nuclear energy, fusion, carbon storage, conservation, or searching for new and more exotic opportunities. It would also avoid ever-stronger incentives for free riding and ever-harder negotiations over ever more restrictive Kyoto-style treaties. 

A sensible policy dialogue requires us to talk openly about our priorities. Often, there is a strong sentiment that we should do anything required to ameliorate a situation. But we don’t actually do that. In democracies, we debate how much to spend on different initiatives, knowing that we don’t have infinite resources, and that sometimes throwing more money at the problem isn’t the best answer.

When we talk about the environment, we know tougher restrictions will mean better protection, but with higher costs. Deciding what level of temperature change we should aim for — and how to achieve it — is a discussion that should engage all of us. But confusing political campaigning with scientific reason won’t help.

By Bjorn Lomborg.

Source: Taipei Times

American climate negotiators refused to back down in their opposition to mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions Thursday, even as a U.S. Senate panel endorsed sharp reductions in pollution blamed for global warming.

The United States, the world’s largest producer of such gases, has resisted calls for strict limits on emissions at the U.N. climate conference, which is aimed at launching negotiations for an agreement to follow the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

That stance suffered a blow when the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bill Wednesday to cut U.S. emissions by 70 percent by 2050 from electric power plants, manufacturing and transportation. The bill now goes to the full Senate.

U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson, however, said that would not impact Washington’s position at the international gathering in Bali.

“In our process, a vote for movement of a bill out of committee does not ensure its ultimate passage,” he told reporters. “I don’t know the details, but we will not alter our posture here.”

It was the first bill calling for mandatory U.S. limit on greenhouse gases to be taken up in Congress since global warming emerged as an environmental issue more than two decades ago.

Republican critics of the bill argued that limiting the emissions could become a hardship because of higher energy costs.

The two-week conference, which opened Monday, is already in a tense standoff between two camps, with the majority supporting mandatory emissions cuts on one side, and opponents such as the United States on the other, delegates said.

Scientists say the world must act quickly to slash greenhouse gas emissions and limit the rise in global temperatures or risk triggering devastating droughts and flooding, strangling world food production and killing off animal species.

Washington’s isolation in Bali has increased following Australia’s announcement Monday that it has reversed its opposition to the Kyoto pact and started the ratification process – winning applause at the conference’s opening session. That left the U.S. as the only industrialized nation to oppose the agreement.

The U.S. Senate action cheered environmentalists and others in Bali clamoring for dramatic action to stop global warming. U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer led off his daily briefing Thursday by hailing the “encouraging sign” from the United States.

“This is a very welcome development,” Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists said of the Senate measure. “It shows the increasing isolation of the Bush administration in terms of U.S. policy on this issue.”

David Waskow, of the Oxfam humanitarian agency, said the Senate legislation was a positive signal to developing nations and others in Bali that America may be ready to assume a more active role in battling climate change.

“It’s one of the things that point the way to having the United States re-engage in the negotiations, and really I think in many ways demonstrates the U.S. leadership on these issues,” Waskow said.

Further momentum for serious greenhouse gas cuts, came from a petition released Thursday by a group of at least 215 climate scientists who urged the world to reduce emissions by half by 2050.

“We have to start reducing greenhouse gas emissions as soon as we possibly can,” said Australian climatologist Matthew England, a group spokesman. “It needs action. We’re talking about now.”

The United States and ally Japan are proposing that the post-Kyoto agreement favor voluntary emission targets, arguing that mandatory cuts would threaten economic growth which generates money needed to fund technology to effectively fight global warming.

Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, the host of the conference, said the mood in the closed-door negotiations was “serious, apprehensive,” but that there were hopes the U.S. would slowly change its stance.

“I think the United States will be judicious enough to accept the changes of atmosphere,” said Witoelar.

But U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns denied that Australia’s acceptance of the Kyoto accord would prompt Washington to do the same.

“We do not see eye-to-eye with Australia or many other countries on the wisdom of signing the Kyoto regime, that’s obvious,” Burns said in Sydney, Australia.

By Joseph Coleman

Source: SignOnSanDiego

BALI, Indonesia. About 190 nations start talks on Monday to try to sharpen the main weapon against climate change, the Kyoto treaty, by involving all countries ranging from the United States to the poorest in Africa.

Delegates to the U.N.-sponsored talks in Bali, Indonesia, are under intense pressure to launch negotiations on a “roadmap” that will lead to a broader pact by late 2009 to tackle greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for causing global warming.

But the trick is to find the magic formula that gets every nation on board, from the biggest emitters such as the United States and China to the smallest and most vulnerable, such as tropical island states or sub-Saharan African nations.

Over the past years, climate change talks have been bogged down by arguments over who’s going to pay the bill for cleaner technology and how to share out the burden of emissions curbs between rich and poor nations.

The bottom line is no nation at the Bali talks wants its economy to suffer by implementing strict emissions curbs. But climate scientists say time is running out.

“We’re already seeing many of the impacts of climate change,” said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, referring to melting glaciers, droughts and rising seas. “We are on a very dangerous path,” he told a news conference.

He said the talks had to conclude in 2009 to avoid a gap after the Kyoto Protocol’s first phase ends in 2012.

“It’s here and now. Indonesia is already suffering from the impacts of global warming,” said Fitrian Ardiansyah of the WWF conservation group. WWF said weather records were being broken around the world, from a melting Arctic to Australian droughts.

SHARING THE BURDEN

The Bali gathering aims find a way to update or replace Kyoto, which binds 36 industrial countries to emissions curbs between 2008-12.

The United States says Kyoto is flawed because it excludes developing nations from legally binding emissions cuts.

But China and India, among the world’s top polluters and comprising more than a third of humanity, say it’s unfair and unrealistic for them to agree to targets, particularly as they try to lift millions out of poverty.

They say emissions from rich nations are responsible for the bulk of man-made greenhouse gas pollution to date and those nations should take the lead in fighting climate change.

Publicly, at least, China and the United States say they will be open and flexible at Bali.

“We’d like to see consensus on the launch of negotiations. We want to see a Bali roadmap,” said Paula Dobriansky, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a phone conversation on Sunday that China would adopt an “active, responsible and constructive” approach in Bali. But he urged rich nations to help.

Developing countries will also push for a new system of credits to help slow the rate of deforestation. Trees store carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, when they grow.

The Bali talks will also sort out who will manage a global fund to help the world’s most vulnerable regions adapt to climate change. The fund could be worth $1.6 billion by 2012.

“We need to move beyond the reports of melting icebergs — everyone’s aware of that by now. People know the problem is serious. The delegates can now get to work on the problem. There’s no need for a media showcase to convince anyone,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Reuters in Berlin.

By David Fogarty

Source: Reuters