Singapore tourists to Bali up 4.79 pct

The number of Singapore tourists holidaying in Bali reached 24,288 in the January-March 2012 period, a 4.79 pct increase from 23,177 in the same period last year.

Most of the Singaporeans going on a holiday to the Island Paradise arrived at Bali`s Ngurah Rai airport straight from their country and only 302 were cruising, Head of the Bali Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Gede Suarsa said here Wednesday.

Last year the number of Singapore tourists to Bali reached 111,153, up 14.09 pct compared to last year`s 97,429, which made the Island republic the fourth of the 10 big.

Gede Suarsa also said Singapore is also a potential market in Bali, as it also contributed 3.42 pct of the total number of 710,236 foreign tourists to the island paradise in the first quarter this year, a 13.78 pct increase from 624,195 in last year`s same period.

He said of the 10 countries with the biggest number of tourists to Bali, seven had a significant increase and only three declining.

The 7 countries with a significant increase in their number of foreign tourists besides Singapore included Australia with 24.80 pct from 155,093 to 178,050, China 82.42 pct from 56,971 to 103,924, South Korea 14.45 pct from 28,002 to 32,047, Russia 6.16 pct from 26,596 to 28,235, UK 32.59 pct from 20,608 to 27,324, and the US 7.42 pct from 19,386 to 20,825.

The three countries with a declining number of tourists to Bali were Japan by 18.45 pct from 52,253 in the January-March 2011 period to merely 42,614 in this year`s same period, Malaysia 3.11 pct from 40,118 to 38,871, and Taiwan 4.43 pct from 28,558 to 27,293, Gede Suarsa said.(Antara)