The city of Paris.
INDONESIA has issued a travel advisory for all its citizens travelling or transiting in France following a series of terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday.
A press statement released by the country’s foreign ministry advises Indonesians to exercise caution in crowded city centres and to stay informed via French government websites and the news. Their citizens were also encouraged to carry with them identification cards, passports and emergency contact numbers.
Indonesian outbound operators said travellers are being cautious, but are not seeing significant cancellations yet. However, neither are they receiving new bookings to France for the year-end holiday season.
Groups departing this week with Golden Rama Tours went ahead despite the Eiffel Tower’s closure. Edhi Sutadharma, general manager of Golden Rama Tours said: “Travellers can still visit the area and see the tower from the outside. Going up the tower is optional in the packages anyway, so travellers can still enjoy the must-see attraction.”
“We have not seen any cancellations so far, but we are monitoring the situation,” he added.
Similarly, Paulus Sofyan Gazali, managing director of Tara Tour said he has not seen any cancellations to Europe although he projects that bookings will be slower.
For inbound traffic, the Bali Tourism Promotion Board (BPPD Bali) is projecting the attack on Paris will cause a significant dip in arrivals from France and that it will probably take three years to fully recover.
Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, chairman of BPPD Bali said: “We see a possible decline in arrivals from France due to the Paris attacks. Using the impact of the 2005 London bombings as a benchmark, we may not see a full recovery until 2018.”
He expects a loss of roughly 20,000 arrivals next year and an estimated 6,000 in 2017.
