By Philip Dorling
Illustration: Matt Golding.
Nearly two-thirds of Australians think Bali is not a safe holiday destination and only one in five has confidence that they would get proper medical help if they got sick or injured there.
An overwhelming majority of Australians also doubt they would get fair treatment from the Indonesian police and courts if they had a legal problem while holidaying in Bali, according to a new opinion poll by UMR Research.
Indonesia and specifically Bali is one of Australia's top overseas holiday destinations, second only to New Zealand, with more than 900,000 Australian visitors each year. Australia is Bali's biggest tourist market, contributing nearly 25 per cent of arrivals to the resort island during January to September last year.
One in five - 21 per cent - of 500 Australians interviewed by UMR said they had travelled to Bali.
While most people who have holidayed in Bali see the island as a safe place (64 per cent), one in three (35 per cent) did not.
Nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) of people who haven't travelled to Bali think the island unsafe.
Women have greater reservations about Bali than men (69 per cent compared with 60 per cent considering the destination unsafe).
Overall only 32 per cent of those interviewed thought Bali is a safe holiday destination.
The nationally representative UMR survey was conducted in mid-January, against the backdrop of news about the mysterious deaths on January 4 of Sunshine Coast mother Noelene Bischoff and her daughter Yvana, who became violently ill and died at the start of a two-week Bali holiday.
The UMR poll shows Australians have strong concerns about the quality of medical services on Bali, with only one in five (27 per cent) confident they would get proper medical attention if they were sick or injured while on holiday.
Confidence in Bali's medical services was greater among people who have visited (50 per cent) than among people who haven't (21 per cent) visited there.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises Australians travelling to Indonesia, including Bali, to ''exercise a high degree of caution … due to the high threat of terrorist attack''.
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