Bali News / Bali Travel and Holiday Updates

Indonesian national flag carrier Garuda Indonesaia has just taken a strategic decision. Starting Monday June 2nd 2008 it restarted direct flight flying Denpasar - Nagoya which has been previously suspended since January 2007. The three weekly flights are flown by an Airbus A330-300.

As the sun went down on Monday June 2nd 2008 the landing wheels of Garuda Indonesia’s GA-888 touched down the runway of Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. As the doors opened, 236 passengers from Nagoya, most of them came in farm trip group of top travel agents, business executives, and journalists. Among the passengers is Indonesian Ambassador in Japan Dr. Jusuf Anwar who previously served the country as The Minister of Finance and Garuda Indonesia’s Director of Commerce Agus Priyanto. Welcoming the group were representatives from the Governor’s office and Garuda Indonesia’s GM of Denpasar Office Bagus Y. Siregar. The aircraft was to return back to Nagoya the next day on 01.25 Bali time.

Known as the third largest cities in Japan after Tokyo and Osaka, the 326.5 square kilometers Nagoya is home to 23 millions residents. Grew in combination of traditional and modern industry, Nagoya has quite strong economic character. From the cultural side, Nagoya Castle built by Shogun Takukawa back in 1612 serves a the city’s landmark. Apart from those facts Nagoya offers modern and elegant living. The city has a Guinness recorded railway station located under skyscrapers.

Japan and Indonesia shared unique heritage led the Ambassador Dr. Jusuf Anwar to think that Nagoya - Denpasar has historical value in addition to economical one. The flight was considered as a symbol of strengthening the 50 years diplomatic relationship between the two countries. “The flight served a historical symbol as it happened at the golden anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Japan”, said the Ambassador.

The ambassador repeated his message on stressing the importance of Indonesia-Japan relationship during official dinner hosted by the Governor of Bali, Dewa Beratha at Dharma Sabha the next day on June 3rd 2008. From national perspective, Indonesia and Japan have equal and mutually beneficial relationship. From local point of view, reading the speech of The Governor of Bali, the provincial secretary Nyoman Yasa openly expressed his gratitude to Japanese contribution to tourism and economic growth of Bali along with its multiplying effect. Furthermore Berata recognized three main contributions of tourism industry, which respectively are residents’ income, government’s income, and job creation. So far Japan is among the most important market of Bali tourism.

The Governor specifically suggested tourism industry players in Bali as well as all the residents of Bali to maintain conducive climate for better growth of tourism industry in Bali.  “Internally we have to continuously improve security, comfortability, service orientation, human resource, infrastructure, and tourism attractions of Bali”, said The Governor.

The Representative of Japanese Consulate in Bali Susaku Hirasima express his expectation for continuous improvement of Bali as one of the main tourist destinations for Japanese holiday makers. “Japanese like Bali, some of them even decided to reside in Bali”, said Susaku.