Can Bali Ever Recover?

It has taken most of the three years since the 2002 Bali bombing for hotels and resorts to recover. Hotels saw a drop of 80 percent in tourism bookings in the aftermath. The hard work to persuade large numbers to return to the paradise island has been undermined spectacularly by the latest attacks, and it could take much longer to recover this time.

By a cruel twist of irony, the London newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph had Bali as its front-page feature in this week´s travel section, celebrating Bali´s recovery as an exotic and beguiling destination for winter leisure travel. Under a banner headline, “Having a Ball in Bali,” the article says, “Bali´s back. Three years after the bomb, and a year after the Foreign Office rescinded its advice to avoid the island, new hotels are opening and the number of visitors to this most exotic and culturally beguiling of southeast Asian destinations is increasing.”

It is going to take a mammoth marketing effort to persuade people that Bali is their ideal destination for a winter sun break this year. Although the British government is not telling people to avoid Bali or Indonesia as a whole, this time around, the prospects for tourism are not good.

The threat of more terrorist attacks is high and despite successes by the Indonesian security forces in tracking down those responsible for the 2002 Bali nightclub bomb, it is clear that the shadowy Islamist militant group thought to be responsible for that and the latest suicide bombing is still active, and motivated.

Terrorism is global in nature and, sadly, attacks can occur anywhere at any time. The crucial issue for the Bali tourism industry is that travel also is global and new opportunities are opening up for exotic winter sunshine in many other parts of the world that are not perceived as trouble spots. Two high-profile attacks in a holiday destination within three years looks too much like a pattern. This latest bombing in Bali may have killed any prospect of its remaining a top choice for any but the most resilient traveler.

But to give up hope of recovery in Bali is to give in to the terrorists. The Islamist militants seek to destroy local economies as part of their overarching aim to undermine Muslim governments that trade with Western nations. For the extremists, tourism is an evil and ungodly influence that perverts the purity and simplicity of life that they imagine comes from an acceptance of their particular version of the Islamic faith.

There has been universal condemnation of the latest attack, in which not only Western or other foreign visitors were killed, but local people and local businesses were made victims. This is not an attack that could be characterized as revenge against Western imperialism. The Indonesian government is the prime target of Jemaah Islamiyah and related regional Islamist militant groups that seek through violence and death to destroy modern prosperity. This begs the question: On whose behalf are they acting? What mandate do they have for inflicting death and destruction on their own people?

Tourism can be a force for peace if by bringing people together it enables them to encounter different cultures and generate greater understanding of alternative world views. But, what understanding do the militants have of their own faith? Whom among Muslim leaders and teachers do they listen to? These questions underline the need for moderate Muslims to make their voices heard.