Travellers think twice about Bali, UK – HBF

With last year’s Bali and London bombings fresh in the minds of travellers, a recent travel survey has indicated that Western Australian holidaymakers are opting to bypass these popular holiday hotspots.

HBF’s annual travel survey has shown travel insurance sales to Bali and the UK had fallen considerably from 2004 to 2005. Bali experienced the greatest fall with a 26 per cent drop in travel insurance sales, while there was a 23 per cent drop in sales to the UK.

HBF Insurance operations manager Garry Wilson said the drop could be attributed to the bombings in Bali last October as well as the issuing of federal government travel warnings for the island, and several arrests for drug smuggling.

In 2003, when the first Bali bombing occurred, sales to Bali dropped by 47 per cent, while the following year they returned to pre-bombing levels with an increase of 47 per cent.

Mr Wilson cited the targeting of key transport networks in the London terrorist bombings in July last year as the reason for the drop to the UK.

“However, despite the drop in numbers, Bali, UK and South-East Asia still rank as Western Australia’s most popular destinations,” he said.

South-East Asia had a 6 per cent drop in travellers from WA, Western Europe 9 per cent and Australia 5 per cent. 

While the top destinations experienced a fall in percentage, the less popular destinations experienced vast increases in travel insurance sales, with both China (up 23 per cent) and Eastern Europe (up 37 per cent) in travel insurance sales. 

Mr Wilson said travel within Australia and New Zealand remained popular.

“Despite recent events, the HBF research revealed that travellers still feel confident about travelling to the United States (up 5 per cent), which has remained consistently popular over the past few years,” he said.