Bali’s tourism industry has received a major boost after Australia downgraded its travel advisory for Indonesia.
Previously, the Australian government advised its citizens to “reconsider the need to travel” to Bali. Following the downgrade however, it is now advising tourists to “exercise a high degree of caution”, putting the island at the same level as Thailand and the Philippines.
“This a positive development based on a carefully considered assessment of the level of threat to Australian travellers in Indonesia,” the Antara news agency reported Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Greg Moriarty as saying.
International visitor arrivals to Bali continued to rise in March 2012, jumping 12.9% to 227,800. The growth continues to be led by Australian arrivals, which surged 23.8% year-on-year in March to 64,300, or 26.8% of the total visitor count.
China remains Bali’s second largest source market, with March arrivals jumping 73.1% to 21,200. Visits by Japanese tourists continued to decline however, falling 19.3% to 17,300.
In the first quarter of 2012, Bali received 695,200 international visitors – 14.8% more than the same period last year.
The Chairman of the Bali Hotels Association, Jean-Charles Le Coz, said he welcomed the Australian government’s decision to downgrade the advisory. “Many Australians view Bali as their home away from home. We look forward to welcoming more to our shores this year,” he said.
Australians have been given varying degrees of advice with regards to travelling to Bali since the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians.
