Australian tourists to Bali up 14 pct

The number of Australian tourists visiting Bali in the first quarter of 2009 rose 24.85 percent to 71,970 from 57,647 in the same period last year.

"The Australian tourists accounted for 14.67 percent of the total tourists coming to the Island of Paradise in the first quarter which reached 490.454," Head of the Bali Office of the Central Statistics Board (BPS) Ida Komang Wisnu said here on Sunday.

The figure placed Australia in the second place after Japan with 83,470 tourists, he said.

China came in third with 56,030 tourists, followed by Malaysia with 29,971 tourists, he said.

He said 71,199 of the Australian tourists came to Bali via Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar and the remaining 771 through the city`s seaport.

Last year, a total of 313,313 Australian tourists visited Bali, jumping 52.68 percent from the year before when the figure was 205,205, he said.

He said Bali which was geographically not too far from Australia was the "second home" for many Australian tourists.

Only recently, Bali received an award as The Best Island in Asia Pacific 2009 from the Hong Kong-based DestinAsia Magazine.