Despite the global financial crisis in Europe, Bali remains optimistic that its tourism growth will continue to improve in the future.
The head of Bali Tourism Agency, Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu, revealed that during the first quarter of 2012, there had been a 10.74 percent growth of visitors, amounting to 915,594 people.
This figure is 30 percent of the overall year’s target of three million visitors.
Positive growth has been displayed by several of Bali’s tourism markets, which include Australia, China, Malaysia, South Korea, UK, Russia, Singapore and the US.
Australian visitors have increased 10.64 percent to reach 222,372 people, while 124,366 Chinese people flooded the island, an increase of 74.71 percent. Visitors from Malaysia are up 0.99 percent to 53,031 people, the South Korean contribution is up 11.97 percent or 41,743 visitors, the UK has seen a 13.01 percent increase of 37,698 people, Russia is up 8.18 percent to 34,241 people, Singapore is up 6.99 percent to 32,589 visitors, and the US is up 8.83 percent to 29,766 people.
“We believe that these tourism markets will continue to grow, especially if global security and trust in us remain steady,” he said.
Subhiksu acknowledged though that the number of Japanese visitors was still decreasing.
“In 2011, the number of Japanese visitors dropped about 25 percent, but this year, until April, we only saw a 15 percent reduction.”
“It shows that the Japanese market is improving. Despite a slight decrease, the Japanese market is still in the top three of the 10 main countries whose people visit Bali.”
Beyond the 10 main markets, he said that tourists from several other countries were also arriving. For example, 10,896 New Zealanders came to Bali this quarter, while 14,485 visitors came from India.
Last year’s data showed that 37,015 New Zealanders and 50,435 Indians came to Bali out of the overall 2,756,579 visitors.
The deputy chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI), Ida Bagus Gede Sidharta Putra, stated his assurance that European tourists were typically loyal visitors who would continue to come to Bali. He cited that hotels in Sanur continued to receive European guests, most of whom had been to Bali many times.
“Many of them brought friends and families along to stay in Sanur.”
Bagus Sudibya of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (Asita) reminded people that despite the optimistic spirit, Bali had to continue improving itself in terms of better public facilities and infrastructure. (Jakarta Post)
Saturday, June 16, 2012
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