Tri Hita Karana Tourism Awards Held in Bali

The Balinese Food Festival event made its way to Tri Hita Karana Tourism Awards 2009 in Bali.

The event theme "Tri Hita Karana" means to balance man with God, society and nature. And awards were given to members of the hotel and tourism industry who did just that.

Organized by Bali Travel News and the Indonesian Chef Association, the event attracted dozens of hotels and restaurants.

Traditional drinks and food served at the festival had to be specially prepared according to health and presentation standards.

Each participant must also prepare a typical Balinese menu, with a customized decoration as the theme.

An appetizer, main dish and dessert must be presented.

MAS Offers Three Daily Flights To Bali

Malaysia Airlines is flying three daily flights from Kuala Lumpur to Bali from Wednesday, with the additional flight departing Kuala Lumpur everyday at 12.25pm and arriving in Bali at 3.20pm.

Its senior general manager, network and revenue management, Dr Amin Khan, said customers could now travel anytime at their convenience as the daily flights were timed every three hours, with departures at 8.45am, 12.25pm and 3.20pm.

He said in a statement today that demand had been picking up, especially with passengers from other countries flying to Kuala Lumpur and connecting onwards to Bali.

"Our load factor is strong at 80 per cent, which is 10 per cent higher compared to the same time last year," Amin said.

KL ranks top 3 city for business in Asia

Kuala Lumpur has been ranked among the top three cities for business in Asia in the SmartTravelAsia.com’s 2009 Best in Travel Poll.

The Malaysian capital, ranked fourth last year, finished behind Hong Kong which remained the top city for business, followed by Singapore, while Bangkok, the “City of Angels”, dropped one rung to fourth. SmartTravelAsia.com, the region’s dedicated online travel magazine with over one million readers worldwide, said the category took in perceptions and actual experiences of business travellers in dealing with a range of factors like efficiency of transport and general services, signposting, hotels, airport and so on.

Low fares to Bali - buy before June 28 for fall travel

Bali in the fall is niiiice - as they say, "bagus." The weather's great, surf's up and college students are back in school.

With Singapore Airlines advertising LAX to Bali for $679, take in the Indonesian island's colorful dances, fragrant flowers and funny monkeys all for what I once paid to go to Hawaii (I know). That leaves plenty of rupiah for surf tours, scooter rentals, heaping plates of mie goreng and hand-crafted art to bring back home.

Singapore Airlines is offering similar rates to Bangkok, Manila, Hanoi (and several more Asia destinations) from Los Angeles in this special promotion. Travel through Nov. 30, 2009.

Bali tourism unaffected by global crisis

The current global financial crisis exacerbated by the outbreak of H1N1 influenza, has not affected Bali's tourism industry, say experts.

Aloysius Purwa, chairman of the Bali branch of the Indonesian Association of Travel Agencies (Asita), said Bali had experienced significant growth in the number of tourists visiting from January to May 2009.

"The number of tourists from China, Malaysia and Taiwan has increased," Purwa said.

Based on the latest data from the Bali office of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the number of Chinese tourists reached 21,492.

The number of tourists from Malaysia is also increasing, while Japan and Australia have remained the island's top markets since the early l980s.