Christmas tourist scene in Bali

Bali tourist industry experts are agreeing to a certain extent about the effects of the Bali Bomb II on Christmas 2005.

Bali was coming back nicely from the October 2002 bomb, streets were busier, hotels full, property prices rising. The Oct 1st 2005 bomb greatly affected Christmas bookings. People have simply not come in large numbers. Those who had already booked expensive villas have mostly not cancelled and the high end villa market is fully booked this Christmas. How the rest of the tourist industry fares during the festive season is another matter. I talked to one restaurant owner in Kuta who told me his Christmas dinner is always fully booked. This year he has 6 bookings.

During both bombings land prices continued to rise, with long term expats confident they are on a good wicket. Many people agree though, that more trouble over Christmas would very seriously endanger Bali’s chances of coming back fast to acceptable levels. If we have a peaceful Christmas Bali starts to get back on people’s radar scope for the summer.