China News Agency, Jakarta, December 23rd: Why is Bali so popular with tourists from both the East and the West?
——Interview with Sendra, Indonesian director of the Confucius Institute for Tourism at Udayana University
China News Agency reporter Lin Yongchuan
This year the Group of Twenty (G20) leaders summit was held in Bali, Indonesia.
From APEC to G20, many high-level large-scale international conferences choose Bali as the venue.
Bali is also a tourist destination favored by tourists from both the East and the West.
In a recent interview with China News Agency "East and West Questions", I Made Sendra, a famous Indonesian cultural tourism scholar and the Indonesian director of the Tourism Confucius Institute at Udayana University, explained why Bali is so popular with tourists from both the East and the West. .
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
China News Agency reporter: From APEC to G20, why are so many high-level and large-scale international conferences chosen to be held in Bali?
Sendra:
Bali is the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia, and many high-level and large-scale international conferences are held here.
Bali has a unique cultural heritage, which is the soft power of the Indonesian tourism department to carry out diplomacy.
Bali has a well-equipped convention and exhibition center.
The Nusa Dua area near Ngurah Rai International Airport has a resort covering an area of 350 hectares, and the venues inside can accommodate more than 20,000 people to participate in activities at one time.
Bali's beautiful island natural resources can provide tourists with beach activities, mountain trekking, waterfall and lake activities, forests and rice fields, and rafting activities.
Bali's food, architecture, handicrafts, artwork, religious and spiritual practices, historical and archaeological sites, village life, and unique aromatherapy spas will keep tourists coming back for more.
China News Agency: What kind of cultural confluence and civilization fusion did Bali experience in history?
Sendra:
Confucianism and Taoism from China, Islam from Arabia and Christianity from Europe once met and merged in Bali, becoming the root of Bali's unique religious culture.
The fusion of Eastern and Western civilizations makes the Balinese Hinduism, which is now dominant, different from the Hinduism in other places.
The uniqueness of Balinese culture's "integration of East and West" is reflected in temple architecture, dance, house landscape layout, etiquette, cultural relics, folklore, mother tongue vocabulary, philosophy, etc. on the island.
Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist pagodas dedicated to gods are built in the same complex as Hindu temples, showing the values of human tolerance and multiculturalism.
These sacred pagodas are not only used for prayers by the Chinese community, but also by Hindu Balinese people.
Many ancient Roman-Gothic church buildings are also perfectly combined with Balinese architecture.
These all show the meeting and integration of Eastern and Western civilizations in Bali.
Built in the "Sky Gate" of Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, the building is a representative architectural form of Bali.
Photo by Lin Yongchuan
China News Agency reporter: How is the development of tourism in Bali? Why is it also favored by tourists from both the East and the West?
Sendra:
The development of tourism in Bali has gone through the following stages:
The first is the exploration stage.
This stage began in the 1930s, when the Dutch colonial government took advantage of the historical heritage and cultural uniqueness of Bali to attract some European researchers and European and American tourists to experience and explore Bali.
The second is the stage of local community participation.
Beginning in the 1970s, the local community responded and participated in providing tourism services, and the government began to promote tourism for the target market. For example, the Indonesian government formulated the "Bali Tourism Development Master Plan".
The third is the development stage.
An increase in the number of tourists, foreign investment and a systematic growth in the tourism market.
Travel agencies began marketing tourism products, importing goods, services, and foreign workers to support the development of mass tourism.
Bali has become the center of tourism development in Indonesia.
In 1991, the Pacific Asia Travel Association Conference was held in Bali, and Bali began to become a venue for international conferences and exhibitions.
There are at least three reasons why Bali has become a tourist destination favored by tourists from both the East and the West:
One is the uniqueness and wisdom of local culture and tradition.
The life philosophy of Bali's "harmony of the three realms", that is, the harmony between man and God, the harmony between man and man, and the harmony between man and nature or the environment, makes Bali's environment protected and community relations harmonious.
The second is the annual art festival.
Various forms of dance and music make Bali's arts and cultural scene one of the most diverse in the world.
The third is "sun, sea and sand".
Bali has some of the best beaches and seas in the world for tourists to take a variety of island hopping activities.
China News Agency reporter: What role has the integration of Eastern and Western civilizations played in the development of tourism in Bali?
Sendra:
Diplomatic tourism is tourism that uses the similarity of cultural genetic elements to create tourist attractions. The more elements of cultural genetic similarity, the higher the loyalty of tourists to the tourist destination.
The development of tourism in Bali is based on cultural tourism, and cultural genetic similarities allow the island to develop diplomatic tourism products based on the paradigm of historical and cultural tourism landscapes.
Tourism operators take advantage of the integration of Bali and Chinese culture to attract Chinese tourists to Bali; tourist attractions and tourism products that reflect the cultural similarities between Bali and Japan, India and other places also attract a large number of Japanese and Indian tourists. ; The national eco-cultural tourism product developed from the uniqueness of Bali culture has a strong appeal to tourists from western countries.
Bali's diverse culture and arts have become the soft power support for diplomatic tourism and enhanced mutual understanding among countries.
Cultural monuments can be seen everywhere in Bali.
Photo by Lai Hongyuan
China News Agency reporter: What folklore and cultural relics can prove the long-standing friendly exchanges between Bali and China?
Sendra:
The friendly exchanges between Bali and China began more than 2,000 years ago.
This judgment is based on ancient Chinese coins found in Bali.
Today, ancient Chinese coins are still used in various Balinese Hindu rituals.
Today, there is a "Ping An Village" on the north side of Batur Volcano in the northeast of Bali, and there is a Balinkang Temple in the village.
The village and the temple have a great connection with China, originating from the love story between King Jaya Pangus of Bali and Chinese girl Kang Ching Wei.
The temple of Balinkang is full of incense.
Photo by Ye Lu
According to legend, in the 12th century, a Chinese businessman surnamed Jiang brought his daughter Jiang Jingwei to a village north of Batur Volcano in Bali.
The then King of Bali, Chaya Pangus, fell in love with the beautiful Jiang Jingwei at first sight, and deduced a poignant love story.
King Pangus built a palace for Jiang Jingwei in Ping'an Village with the red and yellow colors commonly used in Chinese ancestral halls or Buddhist halls, and named it Balingkang.
Today, this former royal palace has become a temple for local people to worship.
Statues of King Pangus (second from the right) and Queen Jiang Jingwei (second from the left) in the Ubud Puppet Museum in Bali. The cuffs of their clothes are decorated with ancient Chinese coins.
Photo by Ye Lu
The internal structure of the temple is the same as that of other traditional Balinese temple buildings, but the exterior is dominated by red and yellow, and the interior decoration is bright with "Chinese elements".
Today in Bali, the love story between Jiang Jingwei and Chaya Pangus is almost a household name.
In terms of other intangible heritage, Tari Baris, which is listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in Indonesia, is considered to be influenced by Chinese culture; the romantic story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (Sampek Engtay) passed through Bali Island Adapted by the local people, it has been passed down from generation to generation in Bali in the form of drama, song, dance and literature.
All of these testify to the long-standing relationship between Bali and China.
The Group of Twenty (G20) summit was held in Bali.
Photo by Lin Yongchuan
China News Agency reporter: Before the new crown epidemic, China had become the largest source of international tourists to Bali. What is your judgment on the tourism cooperation between Bali and China after the epidemic?
Sendra:
Statistics show that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Bali in 2013 was 387,000, and it increased to 1.36 million in 2018, accounting for nearly 30% of the total number of foreign tourists from 11.82%.
From the analysis of tourism forms, the development of the Chinese tourist market in Bali from 2002 to 2019 can be divided into three stages: exploration, "alternative tourism" and mass tourism, and the number of annual tourists has jumped from tens of thousands to over one million.
After the global outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Bali's tourism industry has been hit hard.
In July this year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited China, and in November, the Chinese head of state went to Bali to attend the G20 summit. The heads of state of Indonesia and China held two meetings. The Joint Press Statement of the Meeting of the Heads of State of the Republic of Indonesia and the Joint Statement of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Indonesia, both of which contain content to speed up the resumption of post-epidemic tourism cooperation.
With the advent of the post-epidemic era, more Chinese tourists will travel to Bali.
China News Agency reporter: Before the new crown epidemic, the existing Chinese-speaking tourism practitioners in Bali were far from meeting the needs of Chinese tourists. As the only tourism-themed Confucius Institute in Indonesia, how will the Tourism Confucius Institute at Udayana University cultivate Chinese tourism talents?
Sendra:
Udayana University Tourism Confucius Institute, as the only tourism-themed Confucius Institute in Indonesia, provides Chinese professional training and tourism vocational education for college students and for the tourism industry in Bali.
The Tourism Confucius Institute at Udayana University carried out cultural exchange activities between China and Indonesia.
Photo provided by the interviewee
We offer Mandarin elective courses in the School of Tourism and the School of Cultural Sciences; for the Bali Provincial Tourism Bureau, Immigration Bureau, General Hospital, Tour Guide Association, various police stations, Ngurah Rai Airport Customs, various tourist attractions, Nusa Dua tourist communities, etc. The unit conducts targeted Chinese training.
In the future, we will continue to base ourselves on the uniqueness of Bali as a world cultural tourism destination, promote Chinese and tourism vocational education, and train tourism practitioners who can speak Chinese and understand the characteristics of Chinese tourists.
(use up)
Respondent profile:
Sendra (I Made Sendra), a famous Indonesian cultural tourism scholar.
Graduated with a Ph.D. in cultural tourism from Udayana University, Indonesia, and is currently the Indonesian director of the Confucius Institute for Tourism at Udayana University.
He used to be the director of the Japanese Studies Center of the school, the dean of the School of Tourism, and the head of the China Tourism Training Center.
In-depth research on Bali's history, tourism industry, especially cultural tourism.
He has published more than 10 monographs such as Paradigms and Policies of Cultural Tourism in Bali and Millennium Tourism Trends: Dialogue with Nature, Language, History and Market, and more than 20 professional papers in the field of tourism.