The Potential Cost of Travel Restriction on Tourism Industry

I Made Budiasa, Nyoman Nadra
2016 Proceedings of the Asia Tourism Forum. 2016 - the 12th Biennial Conference of Hospitality and Tourism Industry in Asia   unpublished
Tourism has experienced a big increase as the result of globalization. The rise of the internet and all the online tourism businesses have recorded growth that was never possible before the globalization period. The rise of budget airlines with their online bookings, or small, cheaper accommodation providing discounted rates have attracted people to travel more. However, globalization also brings some threats to security, safety and welfare of all world communities in such interconnected world.
more » ... The relatively easy interaction between world communities cannot be controlled by the government. One of the measures imposed by the government to avoid the risks of the above mentioned threats is travel restriction that ranges from travel warning to travel ban. This short paper deals with such effectiveness of the travel restriction by analyzing the possible impacts or cost on the tourism industry. Qualitative descriptive method is used in composing this paper. Data taken from some interviews with travel agents, airlines and accommodations in Bali; and references including articles, book reviews, reports, and sites in internet. The cost of nation branding is measured by the six dimensions of a country's "brand image", which include export, governance, culture and heritage, people, tourism, investment and immigration (Anholt, 2014). The findings are the travel ban imposed for any Indonesian carriers to enter the European space on the ground that many Indonesia carriers showed poor performance in terms of flight safety, following some bad accidents. The two bomb attacks, with the ensuing travel bans not only damaged the image of Bali as a welcoming island, full of tolerance to different religious beliefs or ethnic groups, but also considered as "hostile". Travel restrictions are one among a range of strategies that could be used to address a global pandemic. The grounding of airplanes in the United State after September 11, 2001 delayed the dynamics of influenza during the 2001 -2002 seasons by approximately two weeks. It is concluded that imposing travel restriction related to safety, terrorism and global pandemic must be based fairly to avoid potential damage to the tourism industry.
doi:10.2991/atf-16.2016.79 fatcat:erfx7pvscnhx5keot4q2qyav34