Bali Garden Beach Resort

12/8/2007) In the midst of the launch of Visit Indonesia Year 2008, the Indonesian Department of Culture and Tourism is targeting 7 million foreign visitors for 2008. This represent a substantial increase from the 6 million visitor targeted for 2007, a number that was not attained and is expected to fall closer to 5.5 million when the current year closes on December 31, 2007.

In order to help achieve the ambitious target, the Ministry has established an official calendar of more than 100 official events to be hosted across Indonesia throughout 2008.

If Indonesia manages to hit its proclaimed target, it will represent something on the order of a 27% increase in arrivals for a single year.

Back to Bali Garden Beach Resort - Home Page
———————————————-

© Bali Discovery Tours. Articles may be quoted and reproduced if attributed to http://www.balidiscovery.com. All images and graphics are copyright protected.

The hotel industry as a whole has a ways to go when it comes to making the room-booking process user friendly, says a new study by a U.K.-based travel and hospitality consulting company.

In fact, things are so bad designwise that many customers are confused by the prices displayed, and about half the time they cannot determine whether a displayed price is per room or per person, according to a report from Southampton, England-based Travel UCD, which calls itself a “usability consultancy specializing in front-end design of travel and hospitality Web sites.”

The company said its 50-page report, entitled “Hotel Booking Process Design and Usability,” studied the user interfaces of 87 travel agency, hotel booking agency and hotel chain Web sites.

Only 48 percent of rates displayed on search results pages explain whether the price is for a room - the hotel industry standard — or for a person, which is the holiday/vacation industry standard, Travel UCD said.

However, most of the major U.S. sites — Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, Hotels.com and Priceline.com — made it very clear.

For example, checking for rates on a five-night stay at London’s Le Meridien Grosvenor House in June, the search results at Expedia clearly stated that the price was per room –an average of $408 per day for the Royal Club Executive Class room.

A check at Hotels.com for rooms on the Strip in Las Vegas made it crystal clear what one was paying for. A Travelocity check in Boston also made it clear. Priceline specifies that when you name your own price, it is per room, per night.

Asked how the top U.S. travel sites rated, a spokesman for Travel UCD said only that the study included Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline, “however, the purpose of the report is not to comment on individual sites but to provide a sector overview, with recommendations on where the industry can improve.”

The report says that many hotel Web sites are unable to offer rooms for child occupancy, or, conversely, accept bookings for child occupancy when legal regulations forbid such reservations.

“With online hotel reservations predicted to reach 20 percent of all online travel bookings by 2005, Web sites are striving to achieve maximum user stickiness,” said Alex Bainbridge, Travel UCD senior consultant and author of the study. “Many sites do not meet the usability needs of their customers, despite the keenness of consumers to book on the Web. The majority of problems are simple design errors…”

The report, targeted at hotel groups, online agencies and e-wholesalers, measures each site’s efficiency and error count, and examines the learnability, memorability and user satisfaction of each.

Back to Bali Garden Beach Resort Home Page

Purchase a Seedling During the UN Climate Change Conference and Create a Forest on Nusa Penida Island.

(12/1/2007) Visitors to Bali and delegate attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between December 3 – 14, 2007 will have the opportunity to purchase trees saplings that will eventually become part of a “new” forest on the barren island of Nusa Penida, located only a few miles from Bali’s shores.

Seeds for Bali

Seeds for Bali is a non-profit program initiated by Bank Danamon Indonesia and co-sponsored by Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC), in partnership with Friends of the National Parks Foundation (FNPF). The program aims to pilot reforestation efforts on some of the most arid places in Bali, with “seed money” provided by Danamon, BTDC and donations from American Express Card members worldwide.

Through the promotion of Seeds for Bali at 3 tented locations in Bali the organizers hope to help accelerate public awareness on the important role of trees and reforestation in the effort to combat global warming. Via the sale of subsidized trees for eventual planting on Nusa Penida, participants will make a real impact on a specific micro-habitat conservation effort, offset their carbon footprint and make a positive contribution to the economy of Bali.

Working with Friends of the National Park Foundation (FNPF), a ten hectare block of land at Nusa Penida’s Puncak Temu and another plot of equal size at Adegan Village have been chosen to receive the thousands of trees targeted to be sold during the UNFCCC. The project works to ensure an 80% survival rate of the trees through the end of fifth year by working with local communities who help raise seedlings, prepare ground for planting, establishing catchments systems, undertake site maintenance and ongoing plant care. FNPF, the executor of Seeds for Bali program, estimates the cost of caring for a tree for 5 years is around US$3.30 per plant.

The choice of seedlings is based on a wide range of native species deemed suitable for the extreme conditions existing at the planting area, able to benefit local wildlife and birds, provide an economic benefit to the local community and have a firm connection to local cultural traditions.

Among the trees selected for Nusa Penida are sandalwood and mahogany trees with planting scheduled to commence in mid-December. An aerial surveillance program will be employed to track progress and safeguard the new plantings.

Donors and interested parties will be able to monitor the project on line at [Friends Nation Park Website.]

Seed for Bali information and purchase booths will be open from December 3-14 in three separate locations: Nusa Dua next to the Bali Eye, Nusa Dua opposite the entrance to Bali Collection and in Kuta in front of the Hard Rock Café. Trees can also be purchased through the end of December at the Bali Danamon Office (Legian Street) and Rascals (Legian and Kuta Streets).

For more information call American Express Merchant Services – Bali Office at ++62-(0)361- 757510/11 or ask your Hotel Concierge

Back to homepage Bali Garden Beach Resort

© Bali Discovery Tours. Articles may be quoted and reproduced if attributed to http://www.balidiscovery.com. All images and graphics are copyright protected.