THE numbers of visits by Japanese and British tourists to Bali have increased significantly in the first 10 months of the year.
According to head of the provincial office of the Central Bureau of Statistics I Gede Nyoman Subadri said the number of visits by Japanese tourists rose 12.27 percent and visits by holiday makers from Britain increased 15.39 percent.
“There were 223,909 Japanese spending their holidays in Bali during the January-October period in 2017. The number was 12.27 percent larger than 199,443 in the same period last year,” he said.
Subadri also mentioned that Japanese tourists were the third largest in number of visits to Bali after China and Australia and accounted for 4.46 percent of the total number of 5.02 million foreign tourists visiting the island in the 10 months period. The total number rose 23.30 percent from 4.07 million in the same period last year.
I Gede Nyoman Subadri said further, the number of visits by British holiday makers to Bali rose 15.39 percent to 213,821 in the first 10 months of 2017 from 185,306 in the same period last year. British tourists were the 5th largest in number of visits to Bali after China, Australia, Japan and India.
“The increase in the number of visits by foreign tourists to the island came amid repeated eruptions of Mount Agung forcing evacuation of thousands of people from areas within a radius considered dangerous and had disrupted flight schedule. Almost all of the tourist objects in Bali, however, are well safe beyond the radius,” he added.
Meanwhile Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has invited 33 foreign consulate generals to a meeting to convince them that the 3,142 meter high volcano is too far in the regency of Karangasem to cause any concern for visitors to tourist objects on the island. In addition precautionary measures have been taken in the event of big eruption. [antaranews/photo special]