In Reply to: Flights in and out, the truth... posted by reiki on Monday, 3. October 2005 at 22:57 Bali Time:
Most of the people who like Bali so much that they're willing to hang around a forum and read about other people's holidays are so far gone they'd still go to Bali if there were evil space monkeys running around everywhere.
There's a lot of other people who just picked Bali as a holiday place coz it's cheaper than Hamilton Island or some other resort. They may not interact much with the locals or do much outside the hotel/resort, or might not feel anything about the place other than a nice place to surf.
Even the hard-core fans of Bali had to stop for a moment and weigh the pros and cons of going. For anyone who doesn't have much affinity with Bali, it would have been an easy decision to cancel and go somewhere where there have been no bombings.
However, since a lot of people would have already paid for their tickets/accommodation, they may just go anyway rather than lose their deposits, etc.
The real downturn will come in a month or so, when fewer people are booking holidays to Bali.
As far as the news goes... if you show all the negatives in any place all at once, it'll look dangerous. I consider Melbourne to be pretty safe, but if there was a one-hour special on TV showing every murder, gangland killing, traffic accident, fire, storm, etc. over the past three years, then Melbourne would look like a death-trap.
My main worries about Bali are that it might be a bit depressing seeing security and police everywhere, and the traders may be a bit desperate to make as much money now while they can. But all the positive things are still there, and will more than make up for it.