Bali Articles

There is good news for tourists who want to visit Bali in the year 2010, especially tourists from Japan, the implementation of a Visa on Board (VoB) service that will eliminate the need for travelers to line up for hours for the submission of Visa on Arrival (VoA) when arriving in Bali. “This is a breakthrough in the management of VoA to provide better service for foreign tourists,” said Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik, while marking the start of VoB services on a Garuda Indonesia Tokyo-Denpasar-Jakarta flight.

The VoB system, which will take effect on February 1, 2010, is a document management service for the provision of immigration visas on arrival that is carried out by immigration officers. To obtain this VoB service, foreign passengers (Japanese citizens) are required to buy a visa on arrival in advance at the Garuda Indonesia check-in counter at Narita Airport (Tokyo).

The examination and provision of VoA passports will be processed aboard (in-flight) by special immigration officers who fly with passengers. After the passengers obtain a VoA, officers will also provide a special card for passengers holding the VoB. This VOB service was previously tested on December 21, 2009 on a Garuda Indonesia flight of the same route. It represents a breakthrough in the efforts to ttract more foreign tourists to Indonesia in 2010; currently, a target of 7 million foreign tourists has been set. This program denotes a very real effort to resolve one of the major complaints from tourists. “They are tired from the long flight, and on arrival in Bali they have to queue again to submit their VoA. Therefore, we tried to find a better solution,” said Jero Wacik at welcoming session last Monday (Feb 1) at Ngurah Rai Airport. The Minister of Culture and Tourism confirmed that his party would keep on evaluating the VoB services on Garuda Indonesia from Narita to Ngurah Rai. This year, VoB services will be expanded to other Japanese airports such as Nagoya and Osaka. It is expected that the same service could be applied later on to other routes for the convenience of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia. “The VoB service is going to be extended to the arrival of tourists from countries such as Australia, China and South Korea,” said Jero Wacik. Meanwhile, two tourists flying with Garuda Indonesia, Ms. May and Ms. Saila, expressed their happiness with the VoB service. “We are happy and helped by this service that released us from a long queue at the airport for VoA,” they said. Even those tourists from Japan who were visiting Bali for the fifth time were more excited about coming to Bali with the addition of this new service.

Foreign tourists who have vacation to Bali during February and reached 191,926 people or increase by 29.94% compared to the same month in 2009.

“When compared with the visit of foreign tourists in January 2010 which recorded 179,273 people, it means that tourists visit in February 2010 increased by 7.06 per cent,” said Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Ida Komang Wisnu Bali in Denpasar, on Thursday (1 / 4).

He said, thus Bali for two period of January-February 2010 visited by 371,199 foreign tourists. While in 2009 Bali receives 2.38 million foreign tourists million or increase 14.48% compared with the previous year which only 2.08 million people.

Ida Komang Wisnu added that Bali foreign tourists on holiday during the month of February were mainly through Ngurah Rai airport with a plane that flies directly from their country.  Only 633 people who registered through a sea port with a boat cruise visits to a number of countries.

He said, 10 from the most countries supplying foreign tourists to Bali, seven countries experienced a significant increase and the three countries showed deterioration. Three countries including Japan for 19.80% of the 29,538 people in February 2009 to 23,689 people, followed by South Korea reached 26.31% from 11,034 people to 8131 people, and Malaysia, 13.99% from 9385 people to only 8072 people.

Seven countries that showed the increase was quite encouraging, including Australia, China, Taiwan, France, Russia, the Netherlands and the United States.

Directorate General (DG) in cooperation with the eight-store tax in Jakarta and Bali in order for vat tax refund facilities, or refund for tourist facilities are granting refunds of sales tax (VAT) for  foreign tourists who patronize in the country. These provisions apply from 1 April 2010 in line Act No.42 of 2009 regarding VAT and import duty.

“This is also done by some countries to attract foreign tourists,” said Mochamad DGT Tjiptardjo in press conference in his office, Thursday (1/4/2010).

Director of Transformation Business Process in the Directorate General of Taxation, Robert Pakpahan, added to the Directorate General of Taxation while still working only with 8 stores in Jakarta and Bali. Furthermore, with the system that is getting stronger, it will be open opportunities to all shops in the country to be able to serve these facilities. ”This was tried in the early stages 8 stores, this is voluntary, if the system is safe then we will open as wide as possible,” said Robert.

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For those of you who bored of seeing dolphins in a giant aquarium or in the swimming performances, this tour may be a long holiday weekend alternative. Tour that presents extraordinary sensations and experiences you can only find in the island resort of Bali.

Tours offered by Bali Hai Cruises will take you to the waters south of Bali, where the gathering of hundreds or thousands of dolphins with a long beak or better known as the spinner dolphin. To reach the site, you must depart early morning at around 07:30 pm from Port Benoa, Bali by using the speed boat.

With a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, speed boat with the name Ocean Rafting will make your heart beat fast enough, because in the middle of Ocean Rafting trip would hit the waves and leaped in the air. However, you should not worry about your safety, because the captain is very experienced and know the sea conditions.

Once down the waters of Nusa Dua for 30 minutes, an incredible view you can see in front of the eye. Thousand of dolphins swimming, dancing and jumping around you. Before you can even closer, the captain had turned off the engine and walking slowly toward those black and gray‘s mammals. After the boat’s position right in the middle of them, you were given the opportunity to capture those extraordinary moments using a photo or a video camera. “It’s incredible! It was amazing. Truly special experience to see dolphins in their habitat directly, “said Ares, tourists from Switzerland.

You are given a chance for one hour to see the behavior of 2.5 meter -sized dolphin. Spinner dolphin is a friendly animal and likes to jump and play on the air seven times, so why it called spinner. This dolphin has always come together and migration on the morning of the Indian Ocean to the Sea of Bali.

Once satisfied to see the natural sights of dolphins in the ocean, the captain invites you to return to Benoa Harbour.

“If you usually had to go to the beach of Lovina Buleleng to see the dolphins, now you do not have to go far there because the waters of Nusa Dua in there is more amazing,” said I Wayan Juliatmaja, Senior Sales Executive Bali Hai Cruises.

To enjoy this dolphin tours you have to spend quite deep, i.e. 60 U.S. dollars per person or approximately USD 540,000. However, this is price is comparable with amazing adventures that you can enjoy for approximately two hours.

So, Bali was not just Kuta Beach.

Collaboration of music artists from Australia and Bali will appear in the “Bali Spirit Festival in Ubud, Bali, on April 3, 2010.

“We are proud to display the Ganga Giri (Australian musician) to collaborate with I Nyoman Windha (musicians from Bali) in a festival,” said General Consul of Australia to Bali Lex Bartlem, from electronic mail that is sent to the Australian Embassy in Indonesia.

Bartlem explains, Ganga Giri arrivals to Bali were sponsored by the Australia-Indonesia Institute. While playing gamelan with Windha,  at the festival,  Ganga Giri will teach you how to play the “didgeridoo” musical instruments native Australia on April 4, 2010.

Ganga Giri can mix the sounds of Australian traditional music instrument with a “didgeridoo” in order to produce the traditional beat and bass sound that “funky” to create the feel of the original tribe in Australia.

Ganga Giri will invite viewers to enjoy the combination of ancient instruments with modern music. Beside in Indonesia, Ganga Giri has been performed in several countries, including Japan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

Not only Ganga Giri, in the “Bali Spirit Festival“, the Australian Embassy also brings other musicians, such as Yeshe Reiners, Dan Pearson, Gumaroy, Gumilaroi, and vocalist Joe Lick Jornick.

Bartlem told that Ganga Giri had six months to collaborate with I Nyoman Windha for creating music which mixes between dance music and Balinese gamelan music, including “Jegog” and “slonding“.