The long-running political crisis in Thailand appears to have had a positive spin-off for Bali’s tourism industry, with more foreign tourists than usual visiting the island, the head of the Bali Tourism Office said on Sunday.
Ida Bagus Subhiksu said the number of foreign tourists visiting the island in the first quarter of the year had reached 551,186, up 18.49 percent compared to the same period last year.
“This is amazing because usually it does not go up this drastically,” he said.
Bali’s image as a secure holiday destination has still not fully recovered following the two terrorist bomb attacks on the island in 2002 and 2005, but tourist arrivals are on the upswing, Subhiksu said.
“Bali has risen again. Even Australians, who accounted for the most casualties [in the bombings], now account for the largest number of visitors to Bali, besides Chinese and Japanese,” he said.
Bali Tourism Board chairman Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya said the diversion of foreign tourists from Thailand to Bali had become noticeable early this year, with Australians making up the bulk of tourists opting for the Indonesian island instead of Thailand, followed by tourists from several European countries, particularly France and the Netherlands.
International tourist arrivals at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport increased steadily over the first three months of the year — from 199,887 arrivals in January to 213,456 in February and 217,253 in March.
“This is, of course, good news for Bali tourism,” said Muhammad Dimyati, a spokesman for PT Angkasa Pura, the operator of Ngurah Rai Airport.
The increase has also been good news for hotels, especially those in the main tourist areas of Kuta and Sanur.
“The [occupancy] rate at the moment is 91 percent. This is just amazing,” said Made Sumawati, public relations manager for Inna Kuta Beach Hotel, adding that last year the hotel only had a 68 percent occupancy rate.
He said most of the tourists were from Australia and were staying up to a week on the island on average.
Dimyati said with Bali’s popularity on the rebound, a number of foreign airlines were planning to start flying to the island in the near future.
“In June, Strategic Airlines will be ready to open a route to Bali, followed by Vietnam Airlines next year,” he said.
The worst political violence in Thailand in at least 18 years has been deterring travel to the country. At least 43 countries have warned their citizens against visiting parts of Thailand during the standoff in Bangkok that began in March.
Workers at Thailand’s Phuket resort area say the fighting may have been more damaging to tourism than the 2004 tsunami that wrecked its coastline. Tourism accounts for 70 percent of Phuket’s economy.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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