TEMPO.CO, Denpasar - Bali saw more tourist arrivals from China than Australia last month. “China has now topped the lists of top ten countries by tourist arrivals in Bali after leapfrogging Australia who used to sit atop,” the Center Statistics Agency (BPS) Bali chapter chairman Adi Nugroho said on Wednesday.
In January 2017, 147,928 Chinese tourists arrived in Bali, an increase compared to the same period last year of merely 79,919 arrivals. The figure made up 32.10 percent of overall tourist arrivals in Bali that month.
“Some 147,835 persons flew directly from their country through Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali,” Adi Nugroho said. The remaining 93 persons came to the island through sea ports by cruise ships.
Australia ranked second with 91,515 tourist arrivals (19.86 percent), followed by India with 3.80 percent.
Bali tourism expert Tjokorda Gde Agung had predicted that Bali would see more tourist arrivals from Chinese than Australia. Among the factors attributable to the increase were direct flights between Chinese cities and Denpasar, Bali, v.v. launched by flag carrier Garuda Indonesia.
“The strategy has been carried out in response to the government’s decision to adopt free visa policy for tourist from neighboring countries, including China,” Tjokorda Gde Agung said.
ANTARA
