Bali recorded a 7.7 percent increase in the number of foreign visitors in the first half of 2012, a senior official announced. Provincial Tourism Agency head Ida Bagus Subhiksu said that from January to June, the island was visited by 1.4 million foreign visitors, with Australian visitors topping of the chart, followed by Chinese visitors. “Emotional affinity and geographical proximity are two important factors that keep up the steady influx of Australian visitors to Bali.
Furthermore, a large number of Australian visitors were of a young age, who like and treat Kuta as their second home,” he said on Friday as quoted by beritabali.com. Subhiksu also pointed out that the number of visitors from Singapore and Thailand had increased significantly, a telltale sign that the island’s tourism industry should pay serious attention to markets in those countries. “On the European front, the number of French visitors has steadily increased,” he added.
source : bali daily
