Bali bombing proves the need to understand safety warnings

When they bombed paradise on Oct. 12, nearly everyone was surprised -- except, perhaps, those who had carefully read the travel safety announcements issued by the U.S. State Department.

A nearly year-old warning urging Americans to “defer nonessential travel to Indonesia” was still in effect when blasts, thought to be the work of terrorists, tore through nightclubs crowded with foreigners in Bali, Indonesia’s best-known resort island. More than 180 people, including at least two Americans, died, and hundreds were injured.

With the Bali bombing, “the rules have changed” on avoiding trouble abroad, says Issy Boim, president of Air Security International, a travel security company. “Today there are no safe havens. You have to take precautions everywhere.”

These days it’s more important than ever for travelers to arm themselves with current information. But because of rapid changes in the world situation, that’s no easy task, even for travel professionals. Several said they were unaware of any warning affecting Bali before the attacks.

The Bali warning points to the subtleties of State Department safety directives and the usefulness of tapping other sources. Here are some steps travelers can take to stay informed:

Check all announcements: Besides issuing the November 2001 warning that urged Americans to avoid travel to Indonesia, the State Department, two days before the Oct. 12 bombing, renewed its worldwide caution on terrorism. That caution advised traveling U.S. citizens to avoid “facilities where Americans are generally known to congregate or visit, such as clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools or outdoor recreation events.” Similar wording had been used since March 17 in these announcements.

Taken together, the Indonesia and worldwide statements said, in effect: Don’t go to a club in Bali frequented by Americans. But you had to read both to get the full picture.

The State Department posts travel information in three categories on its Internet site www.travel.state.gov. “Travel warnings” urge Americans to avoid travel to a certain country. “Public announcements” stop short of that but advise of short-term or worldwide risks from coups, terrorism or other conditions. “Consular information sheets” are general briefings on countries; many contain safety information too.

The department also maintains a toll-free phone number, (888) 407-4747, for such information. The phone is answered 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. It also has a fax-back service at (202) 647-3000.

Brush up on geography: To discern that there was a travel warning affecting Bali, you had to know that it is in Indonesia; the statement didn’t mention Bali specifically. That can pose a problem for those whose knowledge of geography is lacking.

Kathryn Sudeikis, national vice president of the American Society of Travel Agents and an agent at All About Travel in Mission, Kan., says clients sending their children to Austria after the bombings asked her, “Where is Bali in relation to this?”

Also, the Indonesia warning noted there had been violent incidents in Aceh, Irian Jaya and South Sulawesi provinces, hardly household names. Some of these areas are less than 400 miles from Bali, about the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In this situation, an atlas is your best friend.

Read between the lines: What’s not said can be as important as what is said.

On Nov. 1, 2000, the State Department issued a travel warning on Indonesia that dropped a previous statement declaring that “major tourist destinations in Bali, parts of Sumatra and North Sulawesi have been relatively calm.” Bali also wasn’t mentioned by name in the November 2001 travel warning, which was still in effect on Oct. 12.

“We were trying to address that all of Indonesia might be a problem,” says Stuart Patt, spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs. “We should not be trying to ... create the impression that particular places are safe.”

But some travel professionals drew the opposite conclusion: No news was good news.

Fenina Mundisugih, owner of Natrabu Travel in San Francisco, which sends about 1,000 people to Bali each year, said he had understood that Bali was excluded from warnings.

The State Department’s consular information sheet on Indonesia, a separate document, had continued to carry this statement: “The tourist destination of Bali has been largely free of the disturbances seen in other parts of Indonesia. All tourist facilities are operating normally, and to date foreigners have not been the specific target of any group.”

Don’t get desensitized: Travel warnings have become so pervasive that we ignore them, many experts say.

As of Oct. 18, the State Department had warnings or public announcements in effect for 38 countries, or nearly a fifth of the more than 200 it monitors, plus the worldwide caution. The caution, advising Americans to remain vigilant everywhere because of terrorist threats, has been in effect “more or less” continually for about three years, Patt says.

Worldwide cautions are “not to be taken lightly,” Patt says. “We have to remind people it’s a dangerous world out there.”

Look elsewhere for current news: A week after the Oct. 12 bombings, which were followed by several State Department travel warnings referring to them, the department’s consular information sheet on Indonesia, dating to Aug. 10, 2001, still said Bali was largely free of disturbances and that “foreigners have not been the specific target of any group.”

That oversight points to a weakness in State Department travel information, some experts say.

“They’re valuable, but not exactly breaking news,” travel agent Sudeikis says of the reports. For daily updates on security and other travel issues, she and other professionals consult various sources. Some of these services are out of reach for many tourists because annual subscriptions cost hundreds of dollars. They include Weismann Travel Reports’ Intelliguide, www.weissmann.com ($995 a year) and Travel Management Daily, www.tmdaily.com ($797 a year; aimed at travel agents).

Computer-savvy travelers can tap some useful sources at low or no cost. Among them:

Overseas Security Advisory Council: This organization provides security updates to about 2,100 U.S. business and other private groups, such as churches and nonprofits. It has a staff of 15 in Washington, D.C., says Andy Laine, spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Many of the council’s services are available only to members; you must be a business with overseas interests to qualify. But anyone can view its daily reports on political violence, weather emergencies, labor strikes and more, listed alphabetically by country, on www.ds-osac.org. (Click on “Global News.”)

CNN: Call up the CNN Web site, www.cnn.com, and type in your destination’s name to view the day’s news, plus archives. You may have to slog through several unrelated items, but the service is free.

Air Security International: Several hundred corporations, typically paying nearly $5,000 per year, subscribe to the World Watch service of this 13-year-old travel security company based in Houston, says President Issy Boim, a former officer with Israel’s security services. But by going to www.airsecurity.com and clicking on “Hot Spots” and then “Current Issue,” you can view daily reports free. Violence, weather and other events are organized by region and rated by their “threat level” to travelers. (For analysis of the reports and other services, you have to subscribe.) Boim has considered charging to view the reports but has no immediate plan to do so.

iJET Travel Intelligence: This 3-year-old risk-management company, www.ijet.com, based in Annapolis, Md., and used by many travel agents, has begun selling its services to individuals. For $25 per trip, you get around-the-clock updates by e-mail or phone, plus access to a Web site customized with information on your destinations. Often the updates include advice on how to overcome the problem, such as alternate routes in the event of a transit strike or a road blockage. The service includes access to country profiles of up to 100 pages, with details on political violence, crime, health and more. (These can also be downloaded for $8 each from iJET’s Web site or from www.amazon.com; search for “iJET.”)

Security experts I spoke with agree on this: They can’t predict the future. None claimed to have had any intelligence pointing specifically to Bali as a likely target.

Many do suggest that in a new, more dangerous world, the most reliable ways to avoid being a terrorist target are to keep a low profile wherever you are and to shun places where crowds of foreign tourists gather.

And meanwhile, of course, keep abreast of the latest news about your destination.

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Jane Engle welcomes comments and suggestions but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or e-mail [email protected].