SPEECH

OM SWASTYASTU,

Your honor, the Adjudicators;

Distinguished guests;

The participants;

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning. First of all I’d like to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to

the organizing committee for this precious moment to deliver a speech. On this occasion,

I’d like to speak about,” the Balinese Tourism”.

Before I start my speech, I will ask you a silly question. Do you know why many

people like to come to Bali? On this occasion, firstly I will tell you about the meaning of

tourism. Tourism, according to the experts, has meaning that is a kind of phenomenon

which is like that the people goes to somewhere, someplace, region, or other country who

want to enjoy the trip to go sightseeing, or fill all kinds of desire. And based on the Undang-

Undang No. 9 Tahun 1990 Bab I Pasal 1, tourism is trip activity or part of trip activity that is

done voluntarily and temporary to enjoy the object and the tourism uniqueness. From the

meaning of tourism, surely we will think about the people who do the journey. It is called

“tourist”. Tourist is a person who goes to somewhere or someplace temporary with

purpose to having fun and enjoys the trip. Tourist, that a tourism product target market can

be classified into 5 classes. The first is going vacation tourists. They are tourists who do the

journey completely for the sake of vacation in tourism object places. The second is business

tourists. They go on vacation and also do their business activity. The third is cultural

tourists. They want to enjoy a cultural or an art in a tourism object places. The fourth is

spiritual tourists. For example: a person who make the pilgrimage to Mecca or a person

who visit a sacred place. And the last is sport tourists. They are the players, the

participants, or the spectators, and so on. After knowing the tourism product target market,

the government makes accommodation facilities, like hotel, tourism cottage in accordance

to the market request.

Bali is one of the tourism places which is famous in the world. Many people, from

the domestic tourists to foreign tourists, they like to come to Bali. In 1997, according to BPS

(Badan Pusat Statistik), the quantity of the foreign tourists who visit Bali is about 1.230.316

people. They come from USA, Japan, Canada, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia,

England, Germany, France, Thailand, and so on. And it affects to the quantity of the hotel

that is about 90 units until year of 1998. So, do you know why many people like to visit

Bali? The first reason is because of Bali’s panoramas. Bali has many tourism objects,

nature tourism and historic tourism. In nature tourism side, Bali has 47 tourism object,

like the view in Kintamani, Kuta Beach, Legian, Sanur, Tanah Lot, Nusa Penida, Batur Lake,

Bedugul Botanical Garden, Alas Kedaton, and so on. It also has more than 1000 temples like

Besakih temple in Karangasem, Tanah Lot temple in Tabanan, Uluwatu temple in Badung,

etc. That’s why Bali is called “The Islands of 1000 Temples”. In historic tourism side, we

can see so many historical heritages from many kingdoms, like Karangasem, Klungkung,

and Buleleng Kingdom that we can see in the museum. And last in cultural tourism, like art

tourism in Ubud, “situs keramat” in Tanah Lot, Barong Dance in Jimbaran, and in many art

places and galleries in Bali. The second reason why do the tourists like to come to Bali is

because of the Balinese cultures. The behavior of Bali’s people, their way of life in doing

the religion ritual and the culture that is born from the religion, Hindu. In this island which

is lived by the majority of Hinduism people, the culture develops naturally. Bali has many

unique traditions. One of traditions is Ngaben. Ngaben is the ceremony for the people who

were death. In this ceremony, the corpse/the body of the people are burned. Then the ash

is thrown into the sea. The third reason is because of Balinese people. Bali’s people are so

kind and familiar. With Hindu as the religion, it is the power and way of Balinese life. One of

the lessons is Tri Hita Karana. First is Parhyangan. Balinese people always pray to the

Almighty God. The Balinese society and the process of praying can interest the tourists to

come to Bali. The second is Palemahan. Balinese people keep the balance of the nature.

They keep clean the nature and not destroy it. The small example is not let the rubbish

damage our environment. When our Bali keeps clean, the tourists will be enjoy spending

their vacation in Bali. And the third is Pawongan. Balinese people always help each other.

They organize an agricultural system which is called Subak. Moreover it make Bali is more

famous than Indonesia. So, we must be proud being a Balinese people, don’t we?

The Balinese Tourism was started in 1920, when the Netherland voyage company

named KPM (Koninklijk Paketvart Maatschapij) brought their tourists from Europe.

Then they promote Bali as Tourism Object, they helped us by publishing many brochures

about Bali. In those pamphlets, there were many photos about the nature beauty of Bali and

Balinese culture. Bali is promoted with many predicates, like: Garden of Eden, the

Enchained Isle, the Natural Paradise, the Blessed Isle, the Lotus Isle, the Island of

Gods, the Land of Rhythm, the Land of Art and Religious, the Island of Temples and

Dances, and the Island of Peace. The government was aware that Bali has tourism

potency which was so attractive and would be liked by the tourists. For giving the

accessibility to the tourists coming to Bali, in 1930 the government built a Ferry crossing

harbor in route Ketapang – Gilimanuk. In 1930 the first hotel in Bali was Bali Hotel; next in

1963/1964 the government built an international standard hotel named Bali Beach Hotel.

In 1969 the government built an international airport named Ngurah Rai. The development

of Balinese Tourism direct to Mass Tourism. The tourism is the main sector in Bali

development. In 1971, 70% people in Bali worked in agriculture sector. In 2001, 35%

people in agriculture and a partly in tourism sector. The tourism sector gave contribution

31% for PDRB and as 38% the chance of occupation in Bali. The tourism also contributes

51% from the people’s income. It’s true that the tourism is the locomotive in Bali

development. If this sector is stagnated, it will give bad effect to the other sectors. This

thing is so clear according to many experiences. The arrival of the tourist is decreased, like

in the Perang Teluk case (1991), Cholera case (1995), WTC Tragedy case (2001),

Kuta Bomb case (2002), SARS case, Avian Influenza case (2003), Kuta and Jimbaran

Bomb, and many others. It made the Bali economic development is decreased. The tourism

is a multi sector that has strong interdependency, backward and forward linkages to the

other sectors. If the quantities of the tourists are decreased, it will also decrease the income

of the tourism’s workers, decrease the souvenir’s sale, decrease the income of art

performance, and many other bad effects. This condition will influence to the purchasing

power of the people. So, this bad condition will also effect to the other sectors. The ability of

the people in doing their culture and religious activity will be decreased too. It sounds

dangerous, right?

Our tourism condition is so bad. If we don’t do anything, it will make our lovely

island, Bali is dissolved. To overcome this condition, our government has many planning to

develop the Balinese tourism. According to our Bali tourism’s mission, that is increase the

quality of tourism power resource and develop the tourism object, the service and facility

of tourism, there are many efforts that done in order to develop Bali’s tourism. The first is

developing the tourism effort. The government will develop the tourism object, including

the tourism area (Bali Tourism Master Plan Review); increase the quality of tourism

product like nature tourism object, culture, special interest; increase the tourism facility

effort; and increase the tourism service effort. The second is increasing the tourism

promotion in domestic and abroad, like familiarization and Educational Trip; held many

International events, like PATA Annual Conference, ITOP Intercity Tourism Policy)

Forum in Intercontinental Hotel; follow and participate in International Tourism events,

like PATA Mart and PATA Annual Conference, WTM (World Tourism Mart), and CITM

(China Indonesia Travel Mart); developing the role of Tourist Information Centre in

spreading the tourism information. And the third is increasing the quantity of archipelago

tourism visit, like Familiarization and Educational Trip for the members of Mitra Praja

Utama (MPU); doing cooperation to promote the tourism between the members of MPU in

Wilayah Tujuan Wisata (WTW) D, that are Java, Bali, NTB, and also in arrangement the

tourism packet; following domestic tourism events, like Majapahit Trade Fair,

Borobudur Festival, and Pesona Bali Jakarta; and so on.

It’s so important if we also participate in this developing Balinese Tourism. We as

the young generation, as the backbone of the country, especially our lovely island, Bali, it’s

the perfect time to improve our tourism system. We can do many things. We can keep it by

keep our Bali. We should keep the tourism places. Don’t disturb or destroy it. Make them

more beautiful and clean. Then we should keep our cultures from our great arrestors. We

must be able to dance Balinese dances. The examples are Janger, Kecak, and Legong. We

also must be able to sing Balinese songs, like Gending Janger, Geguritan, Kidung, etc.

Remembering that “the Tourism for Bali”. We must save our Bali. So, the Balinese

Tourism will be successful and more advanced. Isn’t it? Thank you for all your kind

attention and I’m looking forward for another opportunity of seeing you again. At last, I

want to say,” Let’s save our Bali and we will save our Balinese Tourism too”. Thank you

very much.

OM CANTIH, CANTIH, CANTIH, OM.