Kemenparekraf: Bali Contributes 80 Percent Of Foreign Tourist Visits In Indonesia

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) said that Bali Province contributed about 80 percent to foreign tourist visits in Indonesia from this year's target of 17 million people.

"Bali is still the main magnet for tourists who come to Indonesia," said Director of Tourism Marketing of the Archipelago of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy Dwi Marhen Yono on the sidelines of the 10th BBTF tourism exhibition in Nusa Dua, Badung Regency, Bali, quoted from Antara, Thursday, June 13.

According to him, foreign tourists have high interest in traveling on the Island of the Gods because of nature, culture and the availability of various tourism attractions.

To boost foreign tourist visits in Indonesia, Marhen assessed that the tourism promotion event, one of which was BBTF, was a strategic means of supporting foreign tourist arrival targets.

At this year's exhibition, 370 buyers from 45 countries participated, including those from countries in Europe, Africa, Australia, and the United States.

Meanwhile, tourism package sellers reached 282, including business actors from eight countries including Nepal, Timor Leste, China, United States, Malaysia, South Africa, Iran and Indonesia with a total transaction target estimated to reach IDR 7.61 trillion or higher than the realization in 2023 of IDR 6.7 trillion.

Meanwhile, the target for the arrival of foreign tourists this year in Indonesia was increased from the initial 14.3 million to 17 million due to observing the realization in 2023.

In 2023, foreign tourist visits in the country reached 11.68 million or exceeded the target of 8.5 million people.

Malaysia became the first country to contribute the largest foreign tourists to Indonesia in 2023 with a percentage of 16.28 percent, followed by Australia at 12.26 percent, then Singapore 12.11 percent, China at 6.75 percent, and Timor Leste at 6.24 percent.

Especially for Bali, foreign tourist visits in 2023 will reach 5.2 million people and by 2024 it is targeted to reach 7 million people.

Meanwhile, from the connectivity side of the air route to Bali, until May 2024 Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport is connected to 19 domestic routes by 13 airlines and 33 international routes by 36 airlines.

In the near future there will be an inaugural flight from foreign airlines from Abu Dhabi and two airlines from South Korea also planning to add flights to the Island of the Gods.