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Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has urged tourism players in Bali to provide maximum relief to tourists affected by the closure of Ngurah Rai International Airport and the impact of the Mount Agung eruption.

“There has been a lot of profit from tourism, now it’s time to sacrifice a little, and hopefully this situation will finish quickly and things will return back to normal,” said Pastika after attending the Plenary Session of Bali Parliament in Denpasar this afternoon.

He views the wealthier tourists won’t have much of a problem extending their stay on the Island of the Gods. “The rich folks should be okay, however the ones without much money, ‘the backpackers’, for example, where will they go, filling the airport?” he said to reporters.

According to Pastika, to address this situation of Ngurah Rai Airport being closed, which could well be extended, the solution is to extend the airline ticket period or at least that it’s not totally void, the visa to be extended by immigration, and in regard to the hotels and where to stay. “The hotel can give a special discount or free of charge,” he said.

He said this has already been discussed previously with them and he would soon meet with tourism principals again to ask for a commitment. Now it is time to join together in facing this situation. On the other hand, Pastika reminded everyone that the airport closure could on for any amount of time, so solutions must be found for tourists who have had to postpone their departures from Bali.

Pastika said the average foreign tourists who leave Bali every day is around 5,000 people, and can be up to 7,000-9,000 foreign tourists on certain days. “Plus other passengers, so maybe about 15-20 thousand per day that can’t leave today, nor tomorrow, or even the next day. So what’s the solution, not to mention people from outside Bali who want to come here,” he added.

Image: Pastika (www.baliprov.go.id)