Thousands Of Chinese Tourists Come To Bali For New Year Holiday

Kuta (Antara Bali) - Thousands of Chinese tourists have arrived in Bali by chartered aircraft for the Chinese New Year holiday.

The general manager of PT Angkasa Pura I that manages the island`s Ngurah Rai airport, Trikora Harjo, said here on Saturday that anticipatory measures have already been taken to deal with the larger number of tourists from China.

"We have tightened security and shored up services to cater to them," he said.

He said he had also trained airport workers, especially those in customer service and security personnel, in Mandarin language.

"We have trained 50 workers in the first batch in cooperation with the Chinese consulate," he added.

All the workers at service centers would be trained in Mandarin in view of the large number of visitors from China. This would be done in stages.

Trikora said the number of tourists from China would increase significantly during the New Year holiday season.

In February, at least 200 chartered flights would arrive in Bali, carrying at least 5,000 passengers for a holiday on the island.

They will come in stages, starting from early February till the end of the month, he said.

According to the regional statistics agency, in 2015 a total of 688,469 tourists from China had visited the island, reflecting an increase of 17.43 percent from the same period in the previous year.

They contributed around 17.20 percent of the total foreign tourists to the island, or 4,001,835 tourists, 6.24 percent more than the previous period`s figure. (WDY)