Hundreds of travelers leave or cancel trips to Bali in fear of more bombings

About 240 foreign tourists cancelled their trips to Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Sunday, while hundreds of entrees left here due to Saturday's string of explosions that have killed 27 and wounded more than 120 so far, said the island's media center on Monday.

The evacuation derived from fear of more bombings, it said.

However, officials insisted that the resort was not that dangerous, as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised during his inspection here on Sunday that the security at enclosed places like hotels on the island were assuring.

After the bombings, much less people were seen on the streets, while shops, cafes and restaurants looked vacant.

Bali should witness peak of tourist arrivals at the end of the year, as people from Australia, the United States, Japan, South Korean and China used to look for leisure here at this time.

This has been the second time that the Southeast Asia's favorite tourist destination tasted the bitterness of bomb blasts.

On Oct. 12 three years ago, a major bombing occurred here, killing 202, most of whom were foreign travelers.

The Indonesian government once expected to receive 1.7 million guests this year in Bali. In February this year only, some 100,000 tourists rushed in here. The majority of them were from Japan and Australia.

Source: Xinhua