Impacts of recent events on tourism in Bali

The tourism sector is Bali is a major component of its economy by creating employment opportunities and generating local income. It contributes 33% of the island's GDP. Despite the government policy to diversify the economy in various sectors, Bali is vulnerable to changes in tourism. This is seen with events such as the 'Bali Bombings' and the 'Global Financial Crisis; which affected tourism in Bali.

The Bali bombings occurred in two separate incidents in 2002 and 2005. On October 12th 2002 three bombs were detonated using various methods in the popular tourist district of Kuta on the island of Bali. This act of terrorism killed 202 people and injured 240 in the process with 88 of those deaths being Australians. This resulted in the tarnished reputation of Bali as a tropical, island getaway and replaced it with the identity of a dangerous region. This fear and reluctance to venture to the region was also increased due to travel advisory with the Australian, Canadian, American and United Kingdom governments warning its citizens to not travel to Bali or any other part of Indonesia. As a result Bali's rate of tourism decreased by 31%. This view of Bali as a dangerous region though was somewhat reduced over time with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting that Bali was fourth place for most popular visited places of 2007, which displays the return of Australian tourists with Bali placing ninth place in the previous year.

The Global Financial Crisis is another event that have repacted tourism in Bali. The market crash resulted in recession in many developed nations and an overall loss of wealth. Despite this the entire country of Indonesia recorded an increase from 5,505,759 in 2007 prior to the GFC to 6,425,259 in 2009. This increase has also been displayed in Bali which has had an 18.49% increase in tourism in 2009 alone. As seen in the above graph there has been a growth in tourist numbers from all nations listed with the exception of Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. Most significantly is the 68.93% from 2009-10 from Australian tourist arrivals to Bali. This may be due to numerous factors including that Australia did not suffer to the extent that other developed nations had due to the financial crisis thus enabling us to continue to travel abroad. In addition to this it may be that due to the threat of a recession or decreased wealth Australian's opted for Bali as it was a cheaper, closer option rather than other developed nations especially since the value of the rupiah decreased.

Population politics: Big or unsustainable???

Australia's migration policy can be considered a population policy as it is the only viable option to maintain the replacement rate above 2.1. The policy enables the government to control one aspect of population with the intake of immigrants that not only add to the working force but initially have higher fertility rates when settling in Australia. This policy also enables the government to be selective of migrants, such as choosing skilled migrants from other nations who have completed their tertiary education. This removes the costs involved in training and educating these skilled workers and is a contributing factor the strategies implemented to attract skilled migrants from overseas.

The government has few other options in terms of population policies as it will never implement nor be able to a policy such as the 'one child policy' in China. Other options for the government include the baby bonus scheme, which involves payments that total between $5000-$7000 for a family with a new born child. The policy may increase births for a period of time but is unlikely to alter the social trend ingrained in Australian society where families generally have two children and if anything is likely only to shift the timing of births. But the strategy acts as an incentive for families to have children earlier rather than delay and includes subsidized childcare and paid parental leave.

A sustainable population for Australia involves one that does not place greater strain or demand of natural resources and ensures that we are well within the limits of our carrying capacity as a nation. The predicted population of 36 million by 2050 does not represent a figure of a sustainable population as other factors impact this figure such as the distribution of people, our ability to facilitate an increasing population for example by increasing density and minimising urban sprawl in order to not only house more people but to ensure that the environment and our rural areas are not threatened. Population within Australia is already distributed unevenly with migrants also opting to live along the east cost either in Melbourne or Sydney, which places greater strain on urban infrastructure. Yet the government can create a solution by creating incentives for people to move in regional centres thus simultaneously stimulating the local economy while reducing the pressure on urban infrastructure.

A cap on population growth would likely be imposed through the restriction of migration as it is the most viable option the government possess. A cap on population growth would ensure that Australia's population is within its carrying capacity with issues over resources such as water and food causing concern while ensuring that Australians could continue to live in the same manner and therefore within our cultural capacity. The weaknesses of a cap would see a decrease in the skilled workers entering the work force, which in turn may threaten economic growth and sustainability while ensuring that our population will age in the years to come as current social trends are likely to continue. Ultimately a reduction in migrant intake would result in a rapid shift in our population structure resulting in an ageing population, which involves increasing costs for aged care that will not only threaten the economy but other areas within out nation such as infrastructure and education.

Australia should focus on maintaining our population growth above replacement rate and ensuring a sustainable population for the future. This focus will ensure that our workforce will not be depleted and our economy will still experience growth. Yet there should be some focus placed on population growth on a global scale on a long term scale to ensure that nations are working together to ensure that the Earth's carrying capacity or more importantly its cultural capacity is not exceeded. This global focus is not a current priority but as global populations increase it will be a defining issue in the future impacting other major issues such as climate change.

Population Dynamics

My country has a total population of 23, 495 361 people with only 15% of this population living in an urban environment and 65% of the population living in slums. 38% of the current population though is under nourished. It is predicted that the population will grow to 34, 445 000 million people by 2025 and continue to grow to 52,095 000 million by 2050. The population has a natural growth rate of 3%. The life expectancy of both males and females currently is 63 years old. The country also has a birth rate of 38 and a death rate of 8 per 100 people. The country also has a population density of 43 per sq km with an overall landmass of 527, 968 sq km. Overall the fertility rate is 5.5. In addition to this males aged 15-24 have a literacy rate of 84% while woman of the same demographic have only 51%.

'Explaining contrasts in population density'

Australia is located in the southern hemisphere and is part of the Oceania region. Its climate is predominantly arid to semi arid with exceptions along the eastern and south eastern coastline and parts of Tasmania, which experience greater rainfall. The population density for the nation is 5 people per square kilometre. The nation unlike China does not exhibit high population density with rare areas of population densities above 100 hundred people per square kilometre distributed in the major cities.

This low population density can be attributed to the historical factor that no formal territory was made on the land until 1770. Therefore the population was relatively small initially comprising only of indigenous tribes and European settlers, thus over time the population of 21 million is still small in comparison to the world. In addition to this environmentally central Australia is undesirable to live in as it is characterized by climatic conditions of higher temperatures, unfertile soil and deserts. Due to this environmental factor there is a higher population density along the coastline of Australia with 89% of the population living in an urban environment as the area is more suited to human living needs and is now the location of all major cities. The historic factor of the coastline being the original site of colonisation for European settlers also contributes to this population density trend.

China on the other hand is located in the northern hemisphere on the south east area of Asia. The country has variance in its population density as it gradually increases to the eastern coast. The country has a greater population density along the eastern coast with 500+ people per square km in comparison to the western areas which has 100-500 people per square km. This can be attributed to the fact that all major cities are located along the eastern coastline, resulting in higher density living. The location of the major cities also attracts people due to numerous job opportunities as China is country a developing country which is experiencing a boom in growth. Despite this 57% of the population live in rural areas distributed across the country.

Australia despite being classified a developed nation has a short history which has naturally resulted in an insignificant population in comparison to the world. Due to this it has a smaller population that are distributed across the country in low densities as currently there is no great demand for space. This is projected to change in the future with a population growth rate of 1.171% and a population of 26-30 million by 2050. This growth rate and increased population will no longer than be able to be catered to in a low density environment and urban sprawl must be effectively reduced in order to create a higher density environment that is sustainable and is well serviced by infrastructure without expanding into rural areas and threatening our agriculture industry. China has the world's largest population with 1,338 070 000 people and thus must continue to increase population density in order to cater for future growth. The nation has already reached its carrying capacity for people (the number an area can support sustainably) and is now placing immense pressure on resources. The large population may contribute to China's economy as it provides cheap labour that fuels the country's growth but this also contributes to a rise in unemployment rates as there is simply too few jobs for the population , which has resulted in 38% of people living in slums.