Most of these tourists came to Bali on direct flights from China, while only 30 arrived on cruise ships, Head of the Bali Office of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Gede Suarsa said here on Saturday.
The Chinese tourists made up 21.75 percent of the overall tourist arrivals in Bali in January 2012, which reached 253,286 overall, up by 21.14 percent from 209,093 in January 2011.
In 2011 236,867 Chinese tourists visited the resort island, up by 20.28 percent from 196,926 in 2010.
China ranked second among the top ten sources of foreign tourist arrivals in Bali last year, after Australia. Japan trailed in third place, followed by Taiwan, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, Singapore, the United States and Britain.
Gede Suarsa expressed his hope that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Bali would increase in the future thanks to China`s robust economic growth and direct flights between China and Bali.
Data from the local statistics office indicates that the number of tourist arrivals from Australia, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, the United States and Britain in January 2012 increased when compared to January 2011. However, the number of Japanese and Russian tourists was lower than previously.
Meanwhile, the number of tourists from Australia rose 8.40 percent from 58,770 to 63,704; Taiwan increased 20.11 percent from 9,717 to 11,671; Malaysia 13.53 percent from 10,267 to 11,656; South Korea was up 1.23 percent from 10,439 to 10,567; Singapore 9.76 percent from 6,893 to 7,566; the United States 17.13 percent from 5,791 to 6,783; and Britain 2.73 percent from 6,157 to 6.325.
Meanwhile, the number of Japanese tourists declined 23.54 percent from 16,747 to 12,805 and Russian tourists fell 6.15 percent from 11,499 to 10,907.
(SYS/KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
