JAKARTA, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- An Indonesian senior minister has said that Bali in general has returned to normal, safe for tourism activities, as more closure on its only airport was unlikely in the future based on scientific simulation and weather forecast made by government agencies.
Citing the results of simulation and scientific analysis made by government agencies, Indonesia Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said that Bali is safe for those spending yearend holiday there as volcanic impacts from Mount Agung volcano will not affect tourism spots.
The status of Mount Agung was still set at highest alert, but it was only affecting a radius of 10 km from the volcano summit. The remaining larger part of Bali is normal, the senior minister said.
Based on the projections conveyed by Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the minister said that the wind would blow to east direction, securing Bali airport from being affected by ashes emitted by the volcano.
"The ashes would no longer affecting Bali airport," he said in the meeting held in his office on Friday.
The volcanic ashes from the volcano's latest eruption late last month had prompted the authorities to close down the airport for several days, disrupting international flights.
The airport was located in south part of Bali around 85 km from the volcano, which is located in northeastern part of the island.
According to the senior minister, results of simulations carried out by Indonesia's Center of Vulcanology and Mitigation of Geological Disaster (PVMBG), tourism spots in Bali have little risk from impacts of possible volcano eruption.
"The PVMBG has made simulations on Mount Agung eruption with various scenarios, including impacts from volcanic materials emitted by the volcano in various volumes of 2.5, 5 and 20 million meter cubic," he said.
He added that results from the simulations, which also analyzing the flows of volcanic materials from the summit, showing that tourism spots located out of 10 km red zones were safe and secure.
The escalating of volcanic activities in the volcano since September has severely battered tourism in Bali which contributes 40 percent to Indonesia's foreign tourist arrivals.
The event would make Indonesia miss its foreign tourist arrival target initially set at 15 million ones this year, Indonesia Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said recently.
The volcanic events in Bali had also prompted 5 countries that supplied the most tourists to Indonesia to issue travel advisories for their nationals planning to visit Bali.
