"Eight of the top ten sources for foreign tourist arrivals in Bali have recorded a significant increase."Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - At least 479,279 foreign tourists visited the resort island of Bali in January and February 2012, up 15.13 percent from 416,288 during the same period in 2011.
"Most of the foreign tourists came to Bali via direct flights and only 20,391 arrived on cruise ships," the head of the Bali Office of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Gede Suarsa, said here on Monday.
Gede noted that over 2.82 million foreign tourists visited Bali in 2011, up by 9.72 percent from the 2.57 million in 2010.
"Eight of the top ten sources for foreign tourist arrivals in Bali have recorded a significant increase, and arrivals from only two countries have shown a decline," he added.
Australia remained on top as the largest source of foreign tourist arrivals in Bali, with 119,054, up by 15.4 percent from 103,398. This is followed by China, with 82,705, up by 84.95 percent from 44,718. South Korean tourists increased by 13.28 percent, from 20,221 to 22,905.
The number of tourists from Taiwan rose 1.39 percent to 19,569 from 19,300, from Russia by 0.72 percent to 19,347 from 19,209, from Britain by 23.61 percent to 16,552 from 13,391, and from Singapore by 7.92 percent to 16,552 from 13,315.
However, the number of Japanese tourists declined by 18.04 percent to 28,659 from 34,968 and French tourists fell by 4.11 percent to 11,329 from 11,815.
(T.I025/INE/KR-BSR/S012)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
