Bali Sets Target Of One Million Tourist Arrivals From China

Denpasar (Antara Bali) -- The regional government of Bali province has set itself the target of attracting one million Chinese tourists in 2015, following the implementation of a visa-free visit policy for 45 countries.

"Indonesia received 560 thousand Chinese tourists last year. We hope the figure increases to one million this year," Governor of Bali Made Mangku Pastika said here on Saturday.

He added that there was a great chance for Chinese tourist arrivals in Bali to rise as they constituted the second largest number of foreign tourists that visited the resort island.

After all, Pastika remarked, he had made reciprocal visits to the two Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Hainan.

"We are ready to receive a larger number of Chinese tourists, now that we offer a visa-free visit. However, we still need to improve upon our shortcomings," the governor pointed out.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the largest number of tourist arrivals in Indonesia in February 2015 was from China.

BPS Chief Suryaman said that China accounted for 18.2 percent, or 144,000, of the 786,700 arrivals of foreign visitors to the country in February.

After China was Malaysia, accounting for 12.43 percent, or 97,800 arrivals, followed by Singapore with 12.39 percent, Australia with 10.43 percent, and Japan with 5.89 percent.

"Most of the Chinese travelers were probably visiting with the intention of expanding their businesses in Indonesia," Suryamin told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The number rose before the government announced that its visa-free visit policy for 30 more countries, including China, will come into effect in April, he noted.

The number of tourists from China is expected to increase with this facility for tourists from 30 more countries, he affirmed.

The government added these 30 countries to the list of 15 other countries that already enjoyed the visa-free visit policy.

The policy is expected to double the number of arrivals of foreign tourists to 20 million by the end of the present government`s term in 2019.

Furthermore, a surge in tourist arrivals in February was recorded in a number of entrance gates. The highest increases were recorded at Sam Ratulangi Airport of North Sulawesi, up by 212.70 percent, at Jakarta`s Tanjung Priok Seaport, up by 43.46 percent, and at Tanjung Pinang Seaport of Riau Islands, up by 30.84 percent.

Declines were recorded in 10 other entrance gates, such as the airports of Sepinggan of East Kalimantan, down by 35.08 percent, and in Minangkabau of West Sumatra, down by 0.45 percent. (WDY)