Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - A total of 64,455 Japanese tourists visited Bali in the first four months of 2011, down 21.81 percent from 82,436 in the same period last year.

"The drop put Japan in third from second place among the top ten sources of Bali`s foreign tourist arrivals," Head of the Bali Provincial Statistics Office I Gede Suarsa said on Sunday.

China overtook Japan as the second source of foreign tourist arrivals thanks to the increasing number of Chinese tourists holidaying in the world-renowned tourist island, he said.

He said the Japanese tourists were made up of 7.59 percent of the overall tourist arrivals in Bali in the four months through April which reached 848,899, up 13.37 percent compared to 748,754 in the same period last year.

Last year, 245,040 Japanese tourists visited Bali, a 26.61 percent decline compared with the year before.

Gede Suarsa said tourist arrivals from seven of the top ten source countries increased significantly while those from the other three source countries declined in the January-April 2011 period.

Tourist arrivals from Australia rose 34.92 percent to 210,903 from 162,082, China 0.19 percent to 71,186 from 71,052, Malaysia 32.95 percent to 52,507 from 39,435, Britain 46.98 percent to 32,128 from 21,859, Russia 26.74 percent to 31,646 from 24,970, Singapore 42.99 percent to 30,455 from 21,095 and France 15.15 percent to 28,897 from 25,095.

Meanwhile, those from Taiwan dropped 10.51 percent from 44,085 to 39,451, and South Korea 1.35 percent from 37,787 to 37,277.(*)

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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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