In Reply to: Ramadan posted by begitu on Thursday, 17. June 2010 at 07:31 Bali Time:
During the month of Ramadan many Indonesians from other parts of the country go home. This is not just at Idul Fitri.
The impact during the fasting period is:
- Rental of motorbikes, and even cars, can be at a premium as locals rent the bikes/cars to go home.
- Non-muslim Javanese and Sumatrans escape Ramadan at home and go to Bali putting impact on traffic and accommodation.
- Local transport (flights, buses and ferries) are much busier - if you are planning on going anywhere outside of Bali it can affect you.
- Immigration lines at the airport are even busier as hundreds of thousands of Indonesians working overseas return to Indonesia for the fasting period (not just Idul Fitri), and one of the main entry points to Indonesia is Bali.
- Muslims working in Bali want to have a month off, so getting tailoring done can be a problem and many shops and hotels are short-staffed.
Think of it like trying to get a trades job done in Dec/Jan in a Christian country. Some are working and some aren't.
Ramadan is on the muslim calendar which is a lunar calendar. It falls approx 10 days earlier each year. It is currently impacting the busiest tourist time of the year, but in a few years time will move to earlier in the year and have less of an impact.