Around Christmas and New Year holiday Bali is full. Hotels are fully booked and so as private villas, the high-end of accommodation options which cost to way beyond a thousand dollar a night. Car rental companies close their doors to new interests and most tables in popular fine dining restaurants are reserved way in advance. In anything related to tourism, there is practically no chances for last minutes.
It is always interesting on how Bali gets flooded by visitors during the period, especially knowing that what makes Bali popular are its tropical beaches. Between December and January Bali is normally in the peak of rainy season. The months where continuous rain for days is obvious. Even when the rain stops, normally it is rare to find clear blue sky with shinning sun. Most days are wet and dull even when rain stops falling for a while.
More than tropical beaches Bali has a lot other things to offer. But most of them are no fun without clear sunny day. Visiting temples, watching art performances, taking adventure activities, beach-side water-sport, even having fine dining, all are only perfect in clear sunny day, something we rarely get during the period.
The situation is worsened by the soaring price. High demand makes availability scarce. Many people are prepared to pay any price to secure the last availability. It applies in anything, from accommodation to restaurant reservation. “If we have a hundred more villas available for the period we can sell it in a day, unfortunately that is not the fact”, Wisna Wedhana, Managing Director of a villa rental agency complained. “Price are 30 to 40 percent higher and people just take it without any question”, she continued.
Implication of demand on price is not only affecting the higher-end of the market where private villa rental is classified. Other tourism-related products such as transportation and food as well as in lower-end market such as budget accommodation shows similar tendency. “It even worse actually, when luxurious Bali villas increase their price tag at 30 to 40 percent, cheap hotels for backpackers even double their prices”, a domestic travel agent exposes.
