While Australia has been Bali’s biggest source of tourists for years, 2017 has proved to be the year of the Chinese for the resort island.
Chinese tourists overtook Australians as Bali’s biggest market from the start of 2017 and have continued to dominate through August, based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Bali Province.
Bali’s seen a 58.69 percent increase in Chinese tourists from January to August 2017, up from the same period last year.
“There were 1.04 million Chinese tourists visiting Bali in the January-August period this year,” said BPS director, Adi Nugroho.
Chinese tourists have made up of 26.21 percent of the foreign tourists who have visited Bali during this period.
Trailing Chinese visitors were Australian tourists, who have made up 18.57 percent of foreign arrivals during this period and Indian tourists, at a mere 4.38 percent. As for the rest of the top ten: Japan contributed 4.33 percent, United Kingdom 4.15 percent, the United States 3.37 percent, South Korea 3.13 percent, France 3.10 percent, Germany 2.91 percent and Malaysia 2.88 percent.
A contributing factor for getting more Chinese tourists to Bali is the increase in direct flights between China and Indonesia. Additionally, Chinese Consulate General in Bali, Hu Yinquan has said he has been promoting Bali as a destination for Chinese tourists because of “cultural similarities.”
While the massive amounts of Chinese tourists visiting Bali will certainly help the island meet its ambitious foreign arrivals target, observers fear Bali’s shift from an Aussie dominated market will have negative effects on Bali’s tourism industry.
