Posted on 06/15/2005 6:34:36 AM PDT by Critical Bill
AUSTRALIAN tourists appear to be ignoring calls for a boycott of Bali in protest at the 20-year jail sentence handed out to Schapelle Corby for smuggling marijuana. Garuda Indonesia today announced an extra flight from Sydney and Brisbane to Denpasar, bringing the weekly total to five and increasing weekly seats by 146 to 1318.
A total of 20,960 Australians visited Bali in April, with nearly 80,000 during the first four months of the year.
Figures for May – the month in which Corby was sentenced, followed by Bali boycott calls from her supporters – are expected to continue to rise and Garuda said 2005 promised to be a record year. Advertisement:
"Consistently strong bookings demonstrate the continued affection that Australians have for Bali," the general manager of Garuda Indonesia Australia/USA, Suranto Yitnopawiro, said today.
"Australian high-end and budget travellers alike are holidaying in Bali in record numbers and reaping the benefits of a strong Aussie dollar, which buys 7,300 rupiah in Bali."
Apart from the beach attractions at Kuta and elsewhere, Bali shops offered great bargains especially in clothing, restaurant meals and taxis, he said.
Garuda's new flight, using a wide-bodied A330 jet, departs Sydney on Fridays at 8am, flying via Brisbane to arrive at Denpasar at 2.40pm local time.
The extra southbound flight leaves Denpasar for Sydney at 11.05pm on Thursdays, arriving in Sydney at 6.35am.
Lawyers for Corby yesterday lodged a 21-page document with the Bali High Court calling for her conviction and 20-year jail sentence to be cancelled and for the 27-year-old to be be freed from Bali's Kerobokan prison.
Three high court judges now have 60 days to decide her appeal, but can extend that by another 30 days.
If they agree to reopen her trial, new evidence would be heard by the same Denpasar District Court that last month sentenced Corby to 20 years in jail.
Weren't a few hundred Australians blown up in a Bali nightclub a number of years ago?
Short term memory loss? (For me, or for Australians?)
You hit the nail on the head there. It's amazing what upsets people more these day's.
Can't really feel sorry for Australians who get blown up or arrested on bogus drug charges in Bali if they insist on going there in droves anyway. I wouldn't go to any part of Indonesia no matter how cheap it was.
Not all Aussies are going to Bali of course, but labeling the ones who do 'stupid morons' seems about right to me.
Now I'm unfamiliar with the case but if she did smuggle and did get caught then she has to serve the time.
Kind of like the 'free mumia' types bring out the "Fry Mumia" in the rest of us
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