Australia Top Of Bali's Sources Of Tourist Arrivals

Denpasar, Bali, Jan 3 (ANTARA) - Australia was on top of the ten largest countries of a source of foreign tourist arrivals in Bali during January to November 2011, up 23.86 percent from 579,624 people during the same period in 2010. Data of the local Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed 717,926 tourists have come to Bali during the eleven months, said Gede Suarsa, the Head of Statistics Agency`s Bali Province, here Tuesday. Gede Suarsa said that the increased number of tourists was caused by the good economic situation in Australia, favorable atmosphere in Bali, quite near distance between Bali and Australia, and also easy flights from both countries. Most Australians came to Bali via Ngurah Rai International Airport by direct flights from their country, while only 15,677 Australian tourists arrived in Bali by cruise liners, Gede Suarsa said. The Statistics Agency`s of Bali recorded 641,588 Australian people visited the Island, up 43,67 percent from 446,570 people during the same period in 2009. He explained that many Australians reckoned Bali as their "second home", so the country could contribute 27,90 percent of the total of foreign tourists come to Bali. During January to November 2011, Bali had attracted 2,57 million tourists from other countries, up 9,55 percent from 2,34 million tourists during the same period in 2010. Gede Suarsa said from the top ten sources of foreign tourist arrivals in Bali, eight of them contributed significant growth to the province`s tourist arrivals, while the other two main source countries fell. Other than Australia, the tourist arrivals in Bali from China rose 16,80 percent from 185,819 people, Malaysia rose 11,71 percent from 135,811 people, Taiwan rose 4,57 percent from 116,486 people, South Korea rose 0,79 percent from 115,593 people, French rose 6,91 percent from 98,018 people, Singapore rose 17,97 percent from 80,733 people and Britain rose 6,10 percent from 88,018 people. The number of tourist arrivals from Japan meanwhile fell 26,47 percent from 229,295 people in November 2010 to 168,590 people in 2009 and Germany fell 0,75 percent from 79,896 people to 79,296 people, Gede Suarsa said.