Posts filed under 'Bali Tourism News'
The Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic will once again feature a rich collection of tennis talent, with many exciting new names joining the familiar faces who make the premier tennis event of South-East Asia an essential stop on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
The tournament, to be held at the Grand Hyatt Resort, Nusa Dua, Bali between 7th and 14th September, includes many of the pacesetters of 2008. As well as many players who have earned titles this year, there are several who have claimed stunning upsets at the highest level, including headline-grabbing victories at the Grand Slams held in Melbourne, Paris and London.
Meet the players coming to Bali in September:
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA
Daniela Hantuchova quickly bounced back from an opening round defeat in her first visit to the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in 2006 by reaching the final in 2007, eventually succumbing in three exciting sets to former champion Lindsay Davenport. She also teamed up with Davenport to reach the semi-finals of the doubles.
Her achievements in Bali last year served as a launch pad for one of the most successful periods of Daniela’s career. She immediately moved on to Kolkata where she reached the semi-finals, and a week after that she reached the final in Luxembourg before losing in three tight sets to current world number one Ana Ivanovic. A month later she claimed the third title of her career by beating Patty Schnyder in Linz.
This year saw Daniela reach a new career milestone when she reached her first Grand Slam semi-final, at the Australian Open. Unfortunately, a stress fracture in her right heel ruined her clay court season and kept her out of the game for nearly three months, until she made a welcome return at Wimbledon.
FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE
Francesca Schiavone has only played at the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic once before. One of the game’s greatest entertainers, the charismatic Italian made it all the way to the final during her Bali debut in 2005 before conceding the final to world number two Lindsay Davenport. She also teamed up with fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta in doubles, and they stretched the world number two pairing of Cara Black and Liezel Huber all the way in their quarter-final, eventually losing 10-7 in the third set match tiebreak.
Francesca’s energy and determination has long made her a crowd favorite wherever she plays, and her skills helped take Italy to the Fed Cup title in 2006 by beating a Belgian team that included Justine Henin. The following year, Italy reached the final again, this time losing to Russia in Moscow. Much to her regret, both those marches to the Fed Cup finals kept Schiavone from competing in Bali as the events were played in the same week. But now she is free to once again demonstrate her skills to her many fans in Bali.
The highlight for Schiavone this season was her stunning upset of world number one Justine Henin in Dubai, the first-ever defeat for the Belgian in her five years of playing the event. And she made headlines in doubles too, reaching the French Open final with Australian partner Casey Dellacqua.
PATTY SCHNYDER
When Patty Schnyder works out her schedule for the year, the first tournament she puts in her diary is the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic. And it is a measure of the appeal of the biggest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event in South-East Asia that she returned in 2006 after experiencing such a disappointing end to her challenge the previous year. It was then that she reached the semi-finals, only to retire with illness after reaching a third set against Francesca Schiavone.
Usually, such an episode would result in a player avoiding that tournament in the future because of its bad memories. But the good far outweighed the bad for the Swiss left-hander, and she couldn’t wait to return to Bali. The following year she was back and she made the semi-finals again before losing to Marion Bartoli. Now she is returning for a fourth bid for the title, keen to make up for her surprise second round exit in 2007.
Since she was last in Bali, Patty has enjoyed consistent success, closing out the 2007 season by reaching the quarter-finals in Luxembourg and the final of Linz, and in 2008 going all the way to the final in Bangalore as well as reaching the semi-finals at Australia’s Gold Coast and the quarter-finals of Antwerp, Charleston, Rome and - most impressively - the French Open.
LI NA
China’s Li Na certainly made an impact on her previous trip to Bali, reaching the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in 2005 before bowing out to eventual champion Lindsay Davenport. Since then she has got married, and is coached by her husband, Jiang Shan.
This season started particularly well for her, as in the first week of the year she claimed her second career singles title by beating three top-20 opponents on her way to winning the Gold Coast event in Australia. In February she reached the semi-finals in Antwerp, and then the week after in Doha she defeated two top-6 opponents, Anna Chakvetadze and Jelena Jankovic, to reach another semi-final.
Then disaster struck, as the following week she had to withdraw from Dubai with a right knee injury that eventually required surgery and kept her off of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour for nearly five months before she was able to return at Eastbourne.
PENG SHUAI
Peng Shuai has been listening to the talk in the locker room as her fellow players talked about the great time they’ve enjoyed at the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, and now she has booked her first trip to Bali to experience one of the most popular stops on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour for herself.
And she is likely to make quite an impact. She has been ranked as high as 31 in the world in singles, and after first representing China in the Fed Cup in 2001 she has been a regular member of the team since 2006. That same year she finished as runner-up to Nicole Vaidisova in Strasbourg, and last year she reached the semi-finals of both Pattaya and Beijing.
She has enjoyed even greater success in doubles, rising to the top 20 and claiming a rare victory over Wimbledon champions Serena and Venus Williams in Bangalore on her way to the title there with Tiantian Sun, and the pair followed up that triumph by overcoming Australian Open winners Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko in Miami.
FLAVIA PENNETTA
Italy’s Flavia Pennetta is making a welcome return to Bali after an absence of two years, when representing her country in the Fed Cup final and then a leg injury kept her away in 2006 and 2007 respectively.
Before that, Flavia had really begun to make her mark on the tournament following her opening round loss upon her Bali debut in 2003. The next year she reached the second round, and in 2005 she made it to the quarter-finals before losing the tightest of matches to fellow Italian Francesca Schiavone, going down 7-5 in the third set. Maybe this year she can go yet another step and reach the semis, or even better. Flavia also has a good doubles record in Bali, reaching the quarter-finals in 2003 and the semi-finals in 2005.
This season she has been in great form as she reached the semi-finals in Hobart in January, before claiming her fifth career title in Vina Del Mar in February and then her sixth title at Acapulco in March. She reached another semi-final, at Palermo, in July. But, best of all, she claimed a sensational straight-sets upset over Venus Williams in the third round of the French Open.
TAMARINE TANASUGARN
Tamarine Tanasugarn is making her fifth visit to Bali, with her most successful runs so far coming in 2001 and 2003 when she reached the quarter-finals. Both times she fell to the eventual champion, in 2001 to Angelique Widjaja and in 2003 to Elena Dementieva. She has also excelled in doubles, winning the title in 2001 and reaching the semi-finals in 2003.
This year has also been successful for Tamarine. She reached the quarter-finals in Pattaya, qualified for Doha where she beat former world number one Amelie Mauresmo to reach the third round, and then she won a satellite event in Japan and reached the final of another.
But it was during the grass court season that Tammy really made headlines, qualifying at s’Hertogenbosch and going on to win her second career title with victory over world number nine Dinara Safina in the final. Then she became the first Thai to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals when she earned a sensational victory over world number three Jelena Jankovic. Beginning the grass court season ranked 85, by the time she fell to defending champion and then 2008 winner Venus Williams at Wimbledon she had climbed all the way up to 37, her best ranking since January 2004.
ZHENG JIE
Zheng Jie is no stranger to the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, as this will be her third visit to Bali. Her first came in 2003 when she qualified and beat Flavia Pennetta to reach the second round, where she lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn. Then in 2005 Pennetta drew revenge, beating Jie in three close sets in their second round meeting. That year was still a success, however, as she went on to reach the doubles final with partner Yan Zi.
A year ago Jie was in despair after an ankle injury kept her out of tennis for the entire second half of the season. But she bounced back strongly in January, especially in doubles when she reached the Gold Coast final with Zi. Next week the pair won Sydney and then they reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a win over the Williams sisters. Another final, in Dubai, was followed by yet another at Indian Wells.
But her success was not limited to doubles, as at Wimbledon she attracted worldwide attention by beating top seed and world number one Ana Ivanovic before going on to become the first player from China ever to reach the semi-finals of any Grand Slam.
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA
Very few people knew the name of Alla Kudryavtseva before she showed up at Wimbledon this year, despite her reaching the Memphis quarter-finals as well as qualifying and reaching the second round of both Hobart and Indian Wells. But then the Moscow-born, Miami-based 20-year old stunned the tennis world by defeating one of the tournament favorites, Maria Sharapova, in straight sets in the second round. She went on to reach round four, before being stopped by an in-form Nadia Petrova.
Her goal, according to her biography in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour media guide, is to be memorable. And she certainly achieved that, not only with her victory over the former Wimbledon and US Open champion and the current holder of the Australian Open title, but with her assertion that one of the motivating forces behind her win was that she didn’t like Sharapova’s outfit.
[Commonwealth Tennis Classic Website].
Source: www.balidiscovery.com
August 7th, 2008
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left for the island resort of Bali on Tuesday morning for a working visit until Wednesday.
Aboard presidential aircraft Being 737-500, the head of state and his entourage left Halim Perdanakusuma airport in East Jakarta at 11:50 on Tuesday morning and arrived at Ngurah Rai International airport in Bali at 2:30 local time in the afternoon.
Accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, the president is scheduled to host a meeting with participants of the Asian Science Camp 2008 at Tampak Siring Palace at 7:30 on Tuesday evening.
Some 300 students from Indonesia and 60 others from Japan, China, India, and other Asian countries attended the ongoing Asian Science Camp 2008 since August 3 until 7 at Inna Beach Hotel.
According to the Jakarta Post, five Nobel laureates and world-renowned scientists would spend some personal time with 360 high school students from across Asia at the Science Camp.
The five Noble winners attending the camp are Prof David Gross of the United States (2004 Nobel prize in physics), Prof Masatoshi Koshiba of Japan (2002 Nobel prize in physics), Prof Douglas Osheroff of the United States (1996 Nobel prize in physics), Prof Richard Robert Ernst of Switzerland (1991 Nobel prize in chemistry), and Prof Yuan Tseh Lee of Taiwan (1986 Nobel prize in chemistry).
The participating students in the camp would have a chance to hear the Noble winners` experiences and aspirations during lectures and discussions.
On Wednesday, President Yudhoyono would attend cremation procession at Pekraman Batur village in Kintamani, Bangli district.
The cremation of some 137 bodies en masse would be proceed with a Balinese traditional ceremony for about five hours.
(*)
COPYRIGHT © 2008
Source: ANTARA News
August 6th, 2008
Visitors to Bali in mid-August will have the chance to celebrate Indonesia’s Independence day (August 17th) during a three-day street festival - Kuta Sidewalk Festival August 16-18, 2008.
A collaborative effort among Kuta area businesses, the event will feature:
â—Ź Sidewalk sales
â—Ź Traditional culture presentations
â—Ź Balinese Art
â—Ź Live music and live DJ
â—Ź Sexy Dancers
â—Ź Food Bazaar
â—Ź Games
â—Ź Bartender contests
â—Ź Cooking Competitions
Festivities will be centered along Kartika Plaza Street in South Kuta.
To learn more about the event, participation and sponsorships contact:
â—Ź Rama Restaurant telephone ++62-(0)361-763100
â—Ź Ni Luh Ekawati telephone ++62-(0)81337925024
â—Ź Rurisea telephone ++62-(0)81805688369.
Source: www.balidiscovery.com
August 5th, 2008
Originating in the royal courts of 17th century Bali, gambuh combines dialogue, music and dance to enact romantic tales of courtly life, love and political intrigue based on the adventures of Panji, a historic Javanese prince.
Gambuh requires a large cast of dancer-actors and musicians and is distinctive and difficult to perform for various reasons, including its Kawi (an ancient form of the Javanese language) text, which few people understand today, and the unusual meter-long, end-blown bamboo flutes of its orchestra, which take years to master.
In gambuh, the dance-drama is accompanied by a small gamelan group consisting of about 17 musicians. The dancers can number anywhere from 15 to 25 depending on the lakon (story) and the availability of performers. Formerly, gambuh casts could number 60 to 70 performers and crew, made up of all levels of society. Contemporary performances typically last two to three or more hours; in the past they could last a few days.
The heart of the dramatic spectacle of a gambuh performance is not so much the plot unfolding as the continuous presentation of its illustrious dramatic personae, always preceded and accompanied by their attendants, who translate the ancient Javanese court language, Kawi, into Balinese for the audience.
While the plays vary, the dramatic personae consist of a series of stock characters-both male and female, keras (strong) and alus (refined), royalty and servants.
Given the political and ceremonial functions of gambuh in upholding courtly ideals, the movement and speech of each character, even servants, must be dignified.
Characterization is all very regimented. The female roles are set, with very little room for improvisation. Parts of the male roles are set dances; other parts are improvised within certain parameters. This may be because traditionally, all of the women’s roles were choreographed and performed by men, reflecting ideals of “femininity” from a male perspective, although today, in some places, there are also women in the cast.
Perhaps because the women’s roles were played by men, they had to be more choreographed, whereas the male roles, played by males, could be more improvised.
Gambuh is performed in only a pocketful of villages today, including, Batuan and Pujung in Gianyar, Pedungan in Denpasar, Anturan in Buleleng, Budakeling in Karangasem and Tumbak Bayu in Badung. — Rucina Ballinger
Source: The Jakarta Post
August 4th, 2008
JAKARTA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) — The Asian Science Camp (ASC) 2008 is to be organized in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali from Aug. 3 to 9 and attended by five Nobel Laureates, the Antara news agency reported Saturday.
    The Nobel Laureates to participate in the ASC 2008 are Prof. Masatoshi Koshiba (2002 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Japan), Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee (1986 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Chinese Taipei), Prof. Douglas D. Osheroff (1996 Nobel Laureate in Physics, USA), Prof. Dr. Richard Robert Ernst (1991 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Switzerland), and Prof. David Gross (2004 Nobel Laureate in Physics, USA).
    Around 500 students from Asian countries will attend the ASC 2008 with a theme of “See the Future, Be the Future”.
    Participants from foreign countries and regions include those from Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, South Korea, China, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.
    The idea of the Asian Science Camp was co-proposed in September2005 after the 55th Annual meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students in Lindau, Germany, by Professor Yuan-Tseh Lee and Professor Masatoshi Koshiba.
    The proposal is aimed to enlighten science talented youths through discussions and dialogs with top scholars in the world, and promote international friendship and cooperation among best young students of the next generation in Asia.
    The governing body of the Asian Science Camp is the International Board of Asian Science Camp (IBASC). IBASC is a non-profit organization and consists of non-governmental educational institutions.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/
August 4th, 2008
By MEGAN NEIL - AAP
For years it has lived in the shadow of its more famous neighbour Bali. Now Indonesia’s pristine Lombok Island is making a concerted effort to build itself up as the next Bali, while trying to maintain its natural charm.
Slower to catch the tourism train than its neighbour to the west, Lombok has been promoted as an “unspoiled Bali”.
But a future US$600 million development may see it emerge on par with Bali as a world-class tourism destination, according to the United Arab Emirates-based developer.
Tourists visiting Lombok typically treat it as a side-trip to Bali, staying just a few days.
The Japanese and Australians, Bali’s top two groups of tourists, come to Lombok for the surfing.
The Koreans come here to honeymoon, the Europeans see it more like an extension of Bali, and expats come from Jakarta for the relaxation, explains Dominique Duvivier, the general manager of Accor’s Novotel Lombok.
But he says there’s new interest in Lombok.
The hotel struggled to survive in the aftermath of the tourism downturn that followed the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings.
Business is particularly good this year though, with the hotel running at about 53 per cent occupancy compared to just 30 per cent at this time last year.
News of a new airport and UAE property developer Emaar Properties plans have helped generate interest in Lombok.
“I think Bali is too crowded so they need to find a plan B,” Duvivier said of Lombok’s visitors.
“Also this development program is bringing some new investors, some new tourists.”
The Novotel Lombok is currently the only top-end hotel in the island’s south, although there are other budget and mid-range accommodation options in the area.
Lombok’s principal beach resort of Sengiggi is situated in the western part, closer to the capital Mataram, the current airport and Lembar, the main port for ferries to and from Lombok.
Work has started on a new US$72 million international airport, close to the town of Praya and about 30km south of the existing Salaparang airport.
Authorities believe the opening of the new airport, expected in 2010, will make Lombok a primary tourist destination, rather than just an add-on to Bali.
International travellers will be able to fly direct to Lombok. And the new airport will be able to handle 2.4 million visitors, a massive increase on the Salaparang airport’s 800,000 passenger capacity.
Among them are expected to be a large number of tourists from the Middle East, drawn by Emaar’s planned development of a 1,175 hectare site in south Lombok.
The development will be set along a seven-kilometre natural waterfront complete with five-star resorts, luxury residences, a marina, golf course and shops.
The Bali Tourism Development Corporation signed off on the Lombok mega-tourism project in March, with masterplanning for the development beginning in April.
The first five-star hotels are expected to open to guests in a few years time and further development will take place over a number of years.
Emaar says its project, set on the Kuta and Tanjung beaches, will be environmentally friendly, integrating natural elements into a residential, leisure and hospitality zone.
Unveiling the project in April last year, Emaar chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar described Lombok as one of the most promising tourism destinations in Indonesia, adding it had the potential to be the magnet for world travellers.
“We are thankful to the Indonesian government for their trust in us to support their development initiatives that will help position Lombok on par with Bali as a world-class tourism destination,” Alabbar said in a statement at the time.
Visit Lombok today and you’re certainly not met with a carbon copy of Bali.
It’s immediately clear that it’s more laid back and less touristy, even though tourism is the island’s largest source of income.
It’s sometimes described as being like Bali 20 years ago, although at least one Lombok travel company says that’s incorrect if you consider the landscapes and cultures that are uniquely Lombok.
As lombokhotelandtravel.com puts it: “As the old saying goes, ‘You can see Bali in Lombok but you can’t see Lombok in Bali’.”
Whereas most Balinese are Hindu, Lombok’s population is mainly made up of the island’s indigenous Sasak people, most of whom are Muslims.
Entering one of the traditional villages, our guide reminds us that “this is not a museum, live people live here”.
The 700 people, described by guide Anaf as one big family, live here in a cluster of 150 thatched houses.
Sade, situated near Kuta beach, is not a tourist setup but they do welcome visitors. Guides like Anaf show tourists around for a small donation.
There’s nine other villages in this family, housing 4200 people, with Sade being the oldest, “the mother of the villages”.
The Sasak people here continue a number of traditions, although some things have been adapted to the times.
“It’s our tradition, if you like a girl you have to ‘kidnap’ her,” Anaf says.
And so the parents live downstairs in a Sasak house, with the daughters sleeping up higher, next to the cooking area, until they’re 15 because then “it’s difficult to kidnap them”.
Of course nowadays everyone has a mobile phone.
“The kidnappings happened long, long ago, not now,” Anaf says.
After a call or a text message: “The girls wait at the front of the houses. It’s more easy to kidnap them.”
The first job of a Sasak family is still farming. And the girls have to learn how to weave the multi-coloured, intricate sarongs and songket fabric.
“Weaving is very important, it’s passed down from mother to daughter,” Anaf says.
“If the girl can’t do weaving they’re not allowed to get married in here.”
It’s also known for its pottery. And of course there’s the diving, snorkelling, hiking and surfing.
Horse carts or cidomos blend in with cars and scooters in Mataram, and life generally moves at a slower pace than in Bali (which is hard to imagine when you first arrive in Bali and quickly discover everything moves according to Bali time).
Riots in Mataram in early 2000 had a big impact on tourism to Lombok, as did the flow-on effects from a drop in visitor numbers after the Bali bombings.
Before the October 2002 bombing, a lot of Australians came to Lombok, Anaf recalls.
The numbers dropped significantly after that, although a graph at the village shows international visitors to Sade increasing from around 1250 in 2002 to about 4000 last year.
“Tell your family to come to Lombok because Lombok is still natural,” Anaf says as we leave.
Over at the Novotel Lombok, where the accommodation includes 23 Sasak villa rooms, set out in the style of a traditional Sasak village, Duvivier thinks the differences between Bali and its neighbour to the east are even greater than simply describing Lombok as the Bali of 20 years ago.
“In Bali, Kuta 20 years ago was still developed,” he says.
“It’s more than 20 years ago, I would say even 30 to 40.
“It’s (Lombok) still natural. There’s not too many places in the world where it’s still very authentic.”
He’s confident Lombok can retain its own unique character even with the Emaar development.
“Bali is crowded … We are far better in terms of beach here.
“There’s a few Aussie guys living here and they surf all day, living here in semi-retirement.”
Duvivier predicts Lombok will grow, “little by little, yes, but not like Bali”.
“I’ve worked myself in many areas and this one is totally magical.
“When you see the sunset, it’s breathless. You think ‘wow, this is beautiful’.”
IF YOU GO
Garuda Indonesia flies to Denpasar, Bali, from Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin and Perth. Visit Garuda-indonesia.com.
The Blue Water Express departs at 8am daily from Bali International Marina at Benoa, 20 minutes from Kuta, costing 690,000 rupiah (NZ$100) one-way. It also stops at the nearby Gili Islands, popular for snorkelling and scuba diving. Visit Bwsbali.com.
Garuda Indonesia and Accor have a range of packages for Bali, such as four nights at the Novotel Benoa Bali from $1342 per person or four nights at Novotel Nusa Dua Hotel & Residences from $1455, both ex-Sydney or Melbourne. Add a stay at the Novotel Lombok to any of these packages from just $57 per person a night. Normal rates at Novotel Lombok are from US$85 (NZ$115) a night.
For more information on the Novotel Lombok, located on the south of the island at Seger and Kuta beaches, visit Novotel.com/asia or Accorhotels.com/asia.
*The writer was a guest of Accor Hospitality and Garuda Indonesia, staying at the Novotel Lombok.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/
August 1st, 2008
Novotel Benoa Bali is the first Accor hotel in Asia to achieve Green Globe Certified, a Green Globe qualification which recognises the hotel’s commitment to successfully implement an integrated Environmental Management System.
The resort was assessed according to 8 key performance areas that seek to guarantee a range of environmental measures including better waste management, community development, chemical products control, and energy and water consumption control. Novotel Benoa Bali is to undergo an annual on-site certification audit as part of the pilot program during the first year, and thereafter every 2 years.
Philippe Le Bourhis, General Manager of Novotel Benoa Bali said ”We are encouraging our partners to find ways to reduce the impact of climate change and take significant steps to preserve Bali as a resort island. Our team is very enthusiastic about Green Globe program and has made significant improvements on energy saving by recycling waste water and collecting rain water. In April this year, we collected enough funds in order to plant 1,763 trees at Accor Indonesia’s tree planting project in Gelandang Village in Central Java, adding to the 76,000 trees that Accor Indonesia has planted for the project”.
Through the hotel’s guest room-towel re-using program, in which guests are invited to reuse their towels instead of having them re-laundered, Novotel Benoa Bali has committed to planting 1 tree for every 10 re-used towels. “We actively invite our guests and encourage them to participate in our environmental initiatives by seeking their feedback on a regular basis,” added Le Bourhis.
Novotel: synonymous with respect for the environment…
Novotel has always been a pioneer in the hotel business. Since it was first set up, 40 years ago, the chain has evolved, anticipated its customers’ expectations, and proved innovative in terms of
well-being, comfort and sustainable development.
Novotel’s long-term concern for the environment began as part of Accor Group’s Earth Guest programme and is now embraced as an integral part of the hotel chain’s brand. This commitment is
based on three main strands of activity: drawing up appropriate construction standards; involving its employees in sustainable development on a daily basis; and involving its customers. In order to affirm this operational commitment, in July 2007 Novotel began its association with Green Globe, the international environmental certification programme for responsible travel and tourism. By doing so Novotel has become the leading hotel chain in the mid-scale segment to involve its entire network in sustainable development.
…and commitment to sustainable development…
Novotel began its involvement in the Green Globe certification programme in July 2007, through an initial pilot phase, at 28 hotels in 12 countries across five continents.
The countries involved were: the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Brazil, the Ivory Coast, India, China, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.
Today Novotel has three certified hotels: Novotel Sharm El Sheikh, Novotel Lyon Part Dieu, and Novotel London Tower Bridge. Moreover two hotels are about to be certified: Novotel Shanghai Atlantis and Novotel Benoa Bali.
Each hotel is assessed according to eight performance criteria that will guarantee, among other things, better waste management, less pollution, and energy and water consumption control. Each hotel will be audited in order to obtain Green Globe certification after six to 12 months, then every year in order to guarantee that the criteria are being maintained.
…in a global certification programme
By the first half of 2008, the 28 pilot hotels in the Green Globe programme will have passed the assessment stages for their certification. Following this success, Novotel will move on to the second phase of its longterm commitment, by extending this certification process to all its hotels.
So, by the year 2010 all Novotel hotels should have been committed to the Green Globe environmental certification programme. With this commitment, Novotel reaffirms its primary goal: to be – and to remain – the benchmark in terms of hotel innovation.
And in so doing, the hotel chain is proving that it has always shared the visionary values of writer Antoine de Saint Exupéry: “We don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors: we borrow it from our children”.
Source: http://www.etravelblackboardasia.com
August 1st, 2008
Garuda Indonesia will place the newly delivered Boeing 737-800 Next Generation series aircraft on the Perth Bali route from 18 August, 2008.
This move is in direct response to the resurgence in tourism to Bali from Western Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the state recorded a 75% growth in holiday makers travelling to Indonesia in the first quarter of 2008.
From 18 August, Garuda Indonesia will add another daily service to the two flights that are currently operating daily (except Wednesday). And, from 3rd September, an additional Wednesday service will bring the total operation from Perth to Bali to triple daily, providing a growth in capacity of 61.5%.
This is in addition to four direct flights per week to Jakarta from Perth.
The daily flight commencing 18 August, GA725, will depart Perth at 1425 arriving in Bali at 1810. This will give West Australians the option of a mid afternoon flight to add to the daily morning flight which departs at 0715 (GA727), and the six times weekly evening flight GA729 departing at 1715.
Garuda Indonesia’s General Manager WA, Mr. Iskandar Basro said, “Western Australians have had an ongoing love affair with Bali for years, prompted by great value packages and a strengthening Australian dollar. The word is out that there is no other place in the world where you can holiday in luxury for such great prices.”
“The addition of a further 1248 seats by 3 September should go a long way to ensuring that Western Australians can continue this romance. “
The capacity increase from the West Coast follows Garuda Indonesia’s announcement last month of an additional 1013 seats per week being added to East Coast Australian routes to Bali by 3 September.
For further details Garuda Indonesia reservations can be contacted on 1300 365 330.
Source: Garuda Indonesia
July 31st, 2008
Megan Neil
For years it has lived in the shadow of its more famous neighbour Bali.
Now Indonesia’s pristine Lombok Island is making a concerted effort to build itself up as the next Bali, while trying to maintain its natural charm.
Slower to catch the tourism train than its neighbour to the west, Lombok has been promoted as an “unspoiled Bali”.
But a future $US600 million ($A626 million) development may see it emerge on par with Bali as a world-class tourism destination, according to the United Arab Emirates-based developer.
Tourists visiting Lombok typically treat it as a side-trip to Bali, staying just a few days.
The Japanese and Australians, Bali’s top two groups of tourists, come to Lombok for the surfing.
The Koreans come here to honeymoon, the Europeans see it more like an extension of Bali, and expats come from Jakarta for the relaxation, explains Dominique Duvivier, the general manager of Accor’s Novotel Lombok.
But he says there’s new interest in Lombok.
The hotel struggled to survive in the aftermath of the tourism downturn that followed the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings.
Business is particularly good this year though, with the hotel running at about 53 per cent occupancy compared to just 30 per cent at this time last year.
News of a new airport and UAE property developer Emaar Properties plans have helped generate interest in Lombok.
“I think Bali is too crowded so they need to find a plan B,” Duvivier said of Lombok’s visitors.
“Also this development program is bringing some new investors, some new tourists.”
The Novotel Lombok is currently the only top-end hotel in the island’s south, although there are other budget and mid-range accommodation options in the area.
Lombok’s principal beach resort of Sengiggi is situated in the western part, closer to the capital Mataram, the current airport and Lembar, the main port for ferries to and from Lombok.
Work has started on a new $US72 million ($A75.11 million) international airport, close to the town of Praya and about 30km south of the existing Salaparang airport.
Authorities believe the opening of the new airport, expected in 2010, will make Lombok a primary tourist destination, rather than just an add-on to Bali.
International travellers will be able to fly direct to Lombok. And the new airport will be able to handle 2.4 million visitors, a massive increase on the Salaparang airport’s 800,000 passenger capacity.
Among them are expected to be a large number of tourists from the Middle East, drawn by Emaar’s planned development of a 1,175 hectare site in south Lombok.
The development will be set along a seven-kilometre natural waterfront complete with five-star resorts, luxury residences, a marina, golf course and shops.
The Bali Tourism Development Corporation signed off on the Lombok mega-tourism project in March, with masterplanning for the development beginning in April.
The first five-star hotels are expected to open to guests in a few years time and further development will take place over a number of years.
Emaar says its project, set on the Kuta and Tanjung beaches, will be environmentally friendly, integrating natural elements into a residential, leisure and hospitality zone.
Unveiling the project in April last year, Emaar chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar described Lombok as one of the most promising tourism destinations in Indonesia, adding it had the potential to be the magnet for world travellers.
“We are thankful to the Indonesian government for their trust in us to support their development initiatives that will help position Lombok on par with Bali as a world-class tourism destination,” Alabbar said in a statement at the time.
Visit Lombok today and you’re certainly not met with a carbon copy of Bali.
It’s immediately clear that it’s more laid back and less touristy, even though tourism is the island’s largest source of income.
It’s sometimes described as being like Bali 20 years ago, although at least one Lombok travel company says that’s incorrect if you consider the landscapes and cultures that are uniquely Lombok.
As lombokhotelandtravel.com puts it: “As the old saying goes, ‘You can see Bali in Lombok but you can’t see Lombok in Bali’.”
Whereas most Balinese are Hindu, Lombok’s population is mainly made up of the island’s indigenous Sasak people, most of whom are Muslims.
Entering one of the traditional villages, our guide reminds us that “this is not a museum, live people live here”.
The 700 people, described by guide Anaf as one big family, live here in a cluster of 150 thatched houses.
Sade, situated near Kuta beach, is not a tourist setup but they do welcome visitors. Guides like Anaf show tourists around for a small donation.
There’s nine other villages in this family, housing 4,200 people, with Sade being the oldest, “the mother of the villages”.
The Sasak people here continue a number of traditions, although some things have been adapted to the times.
“It’s our tradition, if you like a girl you have to ‘kidnap’ her,” Anaf says.
And so the parents live downstairs in a Sasak house, with the daughters sleeping up higher, next to the cooking area, until they’re 15 because then “it’s difficult to kidnap them”.
Of course nowadays everyone has a mobile phone.
“The kidnappings happened long, long ago, not now,” Anaf says.
After a call or a text message: “The girls wait at the front of the houses. It’s more easy to kidnap them.”
The first job of a Sasak family is still farming. And the girls have to learn how to weave the multi-coloured, intricate sarongs and songket fabric.
“Weaving is very important, it’s passed down from mother to daughter,” Anaf says.
“If the girl can’t do weaving they’re not allowed to get married in here.”
It’s also known for its pottery. And of course there’s the diving, snorkelling, hiking and surfing.
Horse carts or cidomos blend in with cars and scooters in Mataram, and life generally moves at a slower pace than in Bali (which is hard to imagine when you first arrive in Bali and quickly discover everything moves according to Bali time).
Riots in Mataram in early 2000 had a big impact on tourism to Lombok, as did the flow-on effects from a drop in visitor numbers after the Bali bombings.
Before the October 2002 bombing, a lot of Australians came to Lombok, Anaf recalls.
The numbers dropped significantly after that, although a graph at the village shows international visitors to Sade increasing from around 1,250 in 2002 to about 4,000 last year.
“Tell your family to come to Lombok because Lombok is still natural,” Anaf says as we leave.
Over at the Novotel Lombok, where the accommodation includes 23 Sasak villa rooms, set out in the style of a traditional Sasak village, Duvivier thinks the differences between Bali and its neighbour to the east are even greater than simply describing Lombok as the Bali of 20 years ago.
“In Bali, Kuta 20 years ago was still developed,” he says.
“It’s more than 20 years ago, I would say even 30 to 40.
“It’s (Lombok) still natural. There’s not too many places in the world where it’s still very authentic.”
He’s confident Lombok can retain its own unique character even with the Emaar development.
“Bali is crowded … We are far better in terms of beach here.
“There’s a few Aussie guys living here and they surf all day, living here in semi-retirement.”
Duvivier predicts Lombok will grow, “little by little, yes, but not like Bali”.
“I’ve worked myself in many areas and this one is totally magical.
“When you see the sunset, it’s breathless. You think ‘wow, this is beautiful’.”
IF YOU GO:
Garuda Indonesia flies to Denpasar, Bali, from Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin and Perth. Call: 1300-365-330 or visit http://www.garuda-indonesia.com.
The Blue Water Express departs at 8am daily from Bali International Marina at Benoa, 20 minutes from Kuta, costing 690,000 rupiah ($A78) one-way. It also stops at the nearby Gili Islands, popular for snorkelling and scuba diving. Visit http://www.bwsbali.com or call: 62-361-310-4557/8.
Garuda Indonesia and Accor have a range of packages for Bali, such as four nights at the Novotel Benoa Bali from $1043 per person or four nights at Novotel Nusa Dua Hotel & Residences from $1131, both ex-Sydney or Melbourne. Add a stay at the Novotel Lombok to any of these packages from just $45 per person a night. Normal rates at Novotel Lombok are from $US85 ($A89) a night. Taxes and fuel surcharges of around $345 ex-Sydney and $331 ex-Melbourne must be added. Visit http://www.BalionANYbudget.com.au.
For more information on the Novotel Lombok, located on the south of the island at Seger and Kuta beaches, visit http://www.novotel.com/asia or http://www.accorhotels.com/asia.
The writer was a guest of Accor Hospitality and Garuda Indonesia, staying at the Novotel Lombok.
AAP
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/
July 29th, 2008
JAKARTA: Garuda Indonesia says it will allocate the newly-delivered Boeing 737-800 Next Generation series aircraft on the Perth Bali route from August 18.Â
“This move is in direct response to the resurgence in tourism to Bali from Western Australia,” the company said in a statement.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the state recorded a 75% growth in holiday makers travelling to Indonesia in the first quarter of 2008.
From August 18, Garuda will add another daily service to the two flights that are currently operating daily (except Wednesday). And, from September 3, an additional Wednesday service will bring the total operation from Perth to Bali to triple daily, providing a growth in capacity of 61.5%.
This is in addition to four direct flights per week to Jakarta from Perth.
The new daily flight, GA725, will depart Perth at 2.25pm arriving in Bali at 6.10pm. This will give West Australians the option of a mid afternoon flight to add to the daily morning flight which departs at 7.15am (GA727), and the six times weekly evening flight GA729 departing at 5.15pm.
Garuda Indonesia’s GM for WA, Iskandar Basro, said Western Australians have had an ongoing love affair with Bali for years, prompted by value packages and a strengthening Australian dollar.
“The word is out that there is no other place in the world where you can holiday in luxury for such great prices.”
“The addition of a further 1248 seats by September 3 should go a long way to ensuring that Western Australians can continue this romance. “
The capacity increase from the West Coast follows Garuda’s announcement last month of an additional 1013 seats per week being added to East Coast Australian routes to Bali by September 3.
Source: http://www.aviationrecord.com/
July 29th, 2008
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