 | | The bombing caused many death |
It should be the height of the season in Bali. In past years, tourists from around the world besieged the vacation island at Christmas and New Year's to surf, party or laze beside the pool. Not this year. At a five-star resort normally packed during Christmas, few people were sunbathing, no one was cooling off in the luxurious pool and the golf course was empty. "It has been like this since the bombings. The rich are afraid of death so they just choose to go to other places," said a staff member at one of Bali's top hotels. At least 190 people, about half of them Australian tourists, died in the Oct. 12 Kuta nightclub bombings. A year ago, those nightclubs were packed with revelers. This year, the site of the blasts is a memorial to the dead and is among the most-visited places in Bali by tourists and Balinese. Gde Pitana, head of the Bali Tourism Authority, is optimistic Bali will rebound six months after the tragedy, arguing massive media coverage of the incident had been a boon in terms of free advertising for the island. "The tragedy has put Bali on a high position. Nobody blames Bali. And the progress achieved by the police is incredible," he said, referring to the arrests of a number of key suspects. But while few people blame Bali for the tragedy, that view has yet to bring back tourists haunted by fear of more attacks. Foreign tourist arrivals reached their lowest ever in November since records began in 1997. Last month, there were only 31,000 tourists, compared with the pre-blast figure of about 100,000 tourists per month. At a wood-carving workshop in the central Bali, owner Made Budiarsa said most of his 75 craftsmen often sleep around huge chunks of log during working hours. "Usually we get heaps of orders, but now, after carvings are done, no order comes in. So we don't know what to do. " he said, adding business was at its worst since the shop opened 20 years ago. (Agencies) | 現(xiàn)在本應(yīng)是巴厘島最繁忙的旅游旺季。 往年的圣誕和新年期間，游客從世界各地蜂擁而至。他們?cè)谶@里沖浪、聚會(huì)或者悠閑地在泳池邊消磨時(shí)間。 然而，今年，這樣的景象卻再也看不到了。 以往圣誕期間通常爆滿的五星級(jí)度假勝地，如今已沒什么人來(lái)曬日光浴，豪華的泳池里空無(wú)一人，高爾夫球場(chǎng)也關(guān)閉了。 一家巴厘島高級(jí)酒店的工作人員說(shuō)："自從爆炸發(fā)生后，情況就一直是這樣了。有錢人怕死，所以他們寧愿去別的地方。"  | | 以前的巴厘島是旅游勝地 |
據(jù)報(bào)道，至少有190人在10月12日的庫(kù)塔夜總會(huì)爆炸案中喪生，其中約一半是來(lái)自澳大利亞的游客。 一年以前，那些夜總會(huì)總是人滿為患。而今年，爆炸發(fā)生的地點(diǎn)成了紀(jì)念死者的地方，也是觀光者和巴厘島居民常去的幾處景點(diǎn)之一。 巴厘島旅游局局長(zhǎng)格德·皮坦那卻仍然很樂觀。他相信在悲劇發(fā)生的6個(gè)月之后，巴厘島的旅游業(yè)會(huì)重新崛起。他還說(shuō)，媒體對(duì)爆炸案的大規(guī)模報(bào)道已經(jīng)成為對(duì)巴厘島十分有益的免費(fèi)廣告。 在談到目前已經(jīng)幾名主要嫌疑犯被捕時(shí)，他說(shuō)："慘劇把巴厘島放到了一個(gè)很高的位置上。沒有人責(zé)怪巴厘島。而警方所取得的進(jìn)展也很迅速，令人滿意。"。 然而，盡管很少有人責(zé)怪巴厘島，但這并不能把害怕再次遭襲的游客重新拉回巴厘島。 今年11月，巴厘島的游客只有3萬(wàn)1千多人，創(chuàng)1997年以來(lái)的最低記錄。而在爆炸發(fā)生前，平均每月的游客人數(shù)高達(dá)10萬(wàn)。 在巴厘島中心的一家木雕作坊，老板馬德·布迪爾薩說(shuō)他手下有75名工匠，大多數(shù)人在上班時(shí)間都在大塊的木頭邊打瞌睡。 他說(shuō)："以前我們總是定單不斷。但現(xiàn)在，完成手頭的工作后，就再?zèng)]有新的定單來(lái)了。我們不知道該怎么辦。"他還說(shuō)，這是開店20年來(lái)生意最差的一段時(shí)間。 （中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2002-12-27 01:00
