Australia remains the biggest tourist market for Bali, with the country contributing almost 25% percent of total tourist arrivals to the island during January to September this year.
Overall, foreign tourist arrivals during that period reached 2.4 million increasing 13.3% over the same period in 2012.
More than 601,00 visitors to Bali arrived from Australia. Growth, however, was down by 1.1%.
Kade Subhiksu, head of the provincial tourism agency, said: "A slight increase or decrease in this (Australian) market will significantly affect Bali's entire market."
Ngurah Wijaya, chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Tourism Industry Association, said that the success of tourism development should not always be measured by the number of arrivals.
Wijaya highlighted the importance of managing and developing special interest tourism targeting quality tourists.
Our tourist industry is still a mix between mass tourism and quality tourism. Indeed, we still need mass tourism, but we have to continuously improve the industry toward the quality market," he said.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
