Tourism Booming in Bali

It has been a long time coming but at last, the tourist arrivals in Bali has surpassed all expectations. All year up until now, there has been record-breaking tourist arrivals and, it is expected that maybe, just maybe, Bali will crack the two million tourist arrivals on the island. This is great news for the locals and traders and this continuous increase in tourism revenue is truly welcomed. Now that Garuda Indonesia has provided three daily flights to Indonesia from Perth in Western Australia, it will not be long before other airlines follow suit and that can only be good for Bali. The Bali Tourism Agency has done a fabulous job on promoting the island not only in Australia, but also overseas. It would be immensely pleasing to see those Balinese-owned companies and hotels who use a green policy be well patronised by the massive influx of tourists. After all, eco-tourism is the way of the future in travel.

There was an excellent article in the Jakarta Post today regarding the Bali Tourism Agency’s efforts to promote tourism to the island even further:

Bali targets Singaporean tourists through Batam
Wed, 07/30/2008 2:53 PM | Business

The Bali Tourism Agency will invite tourism industry players to hold a promotional event in Batam, Riau Islands province, to tap local potentials as well as those from Singapore, agency head Gede Nurjaya said Wednesday.

“Batam has become a potential tourism destination with many tourists from other parts of the country as well foreign tourists,” he said.

“Many local tourists enter Singapore from Batam while many foreign tourists enter Batam and other destinations through Singapore.”
These facts, said Nurjaya, were the reasons why a promotional event in Batam was a priority.

“We can ask local travel agencies to offer tourists heading to Singapore with packages to Bali,” he said.

“There are also plenty of expatriates working in Batam which can be offered packages to Bali with their families or compatriots.

Bali is aiming to get some 1.9 million foreign tourists in 2008 by targeting expatriates nationwide. The target seems reachable with more than 917,000 foreign tourists in the first year.

Bali attracted some 1.6 million foreign tourists in 2007