Chinese tourists flocking to Bali

The Jakarta Post

DENPASAR: Chinese tourist arrivals to Bali have more than doubled this year, a top tourism official said.

Head of the Bali Tourism Agency (BTA) I Gede Nurjaya said Saturday the number of Chinese tourists vacationing on the island had increased by 104 percent compared to the same period last year. There was also an increase in the number of tourists from India and Russia visiting the island, he said. Indian tourist arrivals increased by 68 percent compared to the same period last year, while the number of Russians visiting the island increased by 32 percent.

"These three countries are showing a lot of potential in terms of Bali's tourism market," he said.

The number of foreign tourists arriving in Bali has increased significantly over the last month. Currently 5,400 foreign tourists arrive on the resort island each day, compared to around 4,000 per day last month.

Japanese, Australian, Taiwanese, South Korean and Malaysian tourists make up a large part of Bali's tourism market.

According to BTA data, a total of 910,567 foreign tourists visited the island between January and July this year, which was a 35 percent increase from the corresponding period last year.