Denpasar (Antaranews Bali) - The number of Indians tourists visiting Bali grew 45.59 percent to 272,761 in 2017 from 187,350 in 2016.
Most of the Indians traveled directly to Bali by air with only 2,084 by sea, head of the Bali office of the Central Bureau of Statistics Adi Nugroho said here on Tuesday.
Adi said Indian tourists were the third largest after Chinese and Australians in number visiting Bali in 2017.
Indians accounted for 4.79 percent of the total number of 5.69 million foreign tourists visiting Bali in 2017, he added. The number of foreign tourists visiting Bali in 2017 grew 15.62 percent from 4.92 million in 2016.
Among ten largest countries of origin of the foreign tourists eight countries recorded a significant increase in the number of tourists with two -- Australians down 4.21 percent and Malaysians 5.15 percent lower in 2017 compared with in 2016.
The eight countries of origin included China, India, Japan up 7.69 percent, Britain up 10.07 percent, The United States 12.11 percent, France 7.61 percent, Germany 15.11 percent and South Korea 15.45 percent.
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Adi attributed the increase in the number of visitors from India to Bali to similarity of culture and religion. The vast majority of people in India and Bali are Hindus.
The opening new route between Bali and Mumbai of India by the nation's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia in January 2018 is expected to increase the number of visitors from India to the tourist island.
Sigit Muhartono, the director for cagor and expansion of international routes of Garuda, described the new route as potential.
The opening of the new route is expected to help the airline reaching its income target set 14.5 percent higher than its income in 2017. (WDY)
