Koster Yakin Bali Sets A Record Visit Of 7.1 Million Foreign Tourists

Seminyak, Bali/ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/Ern Gan

DENPASAR - Bali Governor Wayan Koster revealed that the Island of the Gods has the potential to set a new record for foreign tourist arrivals (tourists) reaching 7.1 million during 2025.

"So it has exceeded before 2019, the increase was a lot to 7.1 million, possibly up to 7.2 million," said Koster, on the sidelines of the 15th Bali Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Deliberation (PHRI), in Denpasar, Wednesday, December 3.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of Bali recorded that the number of foreign tourist visits during the January-October 2025 period reached 5.89 million, an increase of almost 11 percent compared to the same period in 2024.

Meanwhile, the average number of foreign tourist arrivals per day in Bali reaches around 20 thousand to 23 thousand people.

According to him, the projected total visits to foreign tourists in 2025 exceeded the achievement before the COVID-19 pandemic.

BPS Bali recorded that foreign tourists' visits experienced an increase per year, which in 2018 reached 6 million people and in 2019 it reached 6.27 million people.

Then in 2020-2021, the condition of world tourism is negative due to the pandemic, and Bali's economy is at its lowest point of minus to 9.3 percent.

Furthermore, with joint efforts by the government and other stakeholders, the economy in Bali then improved and recovered until foreign tourists' visits reached a peak of 6.3 million in 2024.

This number reached 45.3 percent of the national realization which reached 13.9 million people.

Meanwhile, the number of domestic tourists, although not growing aggressively, recorded a positive figure of 9.3 million people because of the high price of domestic tickets and the reduced fleet of aircraft.

Koster also recorded data from BPS Bali which stated that foreign tourist spending each visit in Bali is estimated at an average of 1,677 United States (US) dollars.

This amount is higher than the total foreign tourist spending in Indonesia besides Bali, reaching 1,392 US dollars.

If calculated assuming an exchange rate of Rp. 16,500, Bali will donate foreign exchange in 2024 to reach around Rp. 174 trillion.

According to Koster, the realization was equivalent to 54.5 percent of the national achievement of IDR 319 trillion.

Despite contributing 54.5 percent to foreign exchange to the state, he emphasized that infrastructure development in Bali should be carried out through a regional characteristics approach.

"Qual tourism, competitiveness requires good infrastructure, quality because Bali is a world tourist destination," he said.