As more and more
high-spending Chinese tourists travel abroad, Indonesia does not want to
miss the opportunity of enjoying the share of the Chinese tourist boom.
Over the past several years, the world had experienced a sharp,
upward trend in overseas travel among the Chinese people. Around 3.62
billion journeys, or 200 million more than last year, are expected to be
made by the Chinese people this year, CNN reported.
The Chinese travel and spend more than anyone else on the planet,
according to the United Nations as quoted by CNN. They spent $102
billion on 83 million trips in 2012, and they will continue to dominate
the market.
By 2020, more than 200 million Chinese people will go overseas, CNN
reported, quoting a report from the Asia-Pacific brokerage firm CLSA,
double the number in 2013. This explosion is due in part to higher
wages, more annual leaves and easier visas.
The Indonesian government had intensified tourism promotion in
China and launched a Chinese-language website to boost the number of
Chinese arrivals by 37 percent to one million by the end of 2014.
Bali is one of the worlds 10-most favorite tourist destinations for
the Chinese people, apart from Australia, Cape Town, Edinburgh, Hawaii,
Madrid, Egypt, Niagara Falls, Paris and Switzerland, according to the
result of the polling of the Beijing Peoples Broadcasting 2011.
"Most Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia choose Bali as their
favorite destination for a vacation," I Gusti Ngurah Putra, secretary to
the tourism and the creative economy ministrys tourism marketing
director general, said recently.
The number of Chinese tourist arrivals in Bali in January 2014
reached 52,060, a sharp increase of 80.52 percent from 28,839 in January
2013.
Chinese tourists in Bali were the second-largest in number after
Australians last year, the Bali tourism office had announced recently.
Last year, a total of 387,533 Chinese tourists visited Bali, up 24.65 percent from 310,904 in 2012.
"China is a potential market for Indonesias tourism industry, with
Bali as the main destination," Dewa Nyoman Putra, a Bali tourism
observer, said.
In 2013, at least 76 million Chinese people traveled overseas as
tourists. This year, the number is expected to increase to 100 million,
he explained.
Chinas economic growth, which has been improving rapidly, has
encouraged its people to travel abroad. This opportunity should be used
optimally by Bali, he pointed out.
He urged the Indonesian government to intensify tourism promotion
activities in China to attract more Chinese tourists to visit the
country.
"I am glad to hear that the Indonesian flagship airline Garuda Airways recognizes China as a potential market," he added.
In January 2012, the number of Chinese tourist arrivals in Bali
increased 222.18 percent, from 17,102 in January 2011, to more than
55,090.
Most of these tourists came to Bali on direct flights from China,
while only 30 arrived on cruise ships, Head of the Bali Office of the
Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Gede Suarsa said.
He said he hoped that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Bali
will increase in the future due to Chinas robust economic growth and
direct flights between China and Bali.
More tourists from East Asia are expected to visit Bali as a result
of Dragonairs opening of the round-trip Hong Kong-Denpasar route in
April 2014.
Dragonair, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, has
planned to launch direct flights to Denpasar, Bali, next April, Cathay
Pacific Country Manager in Indonesia Patton Chan said recently.
"Denpasar will become the first destination for Dragonair in Indonesia," Patton Chan told reporters here.
Cathay Pacific, which has served the Hong Kong-Denpasar route for a
long time, and Dragonair will continue to serve the Hong Kong-Bali
route, operating nine flights per week.
Other airlines currently serving the direct routes of
China-Indonesia include Garuda Indonesia, Hong Kong Airlines and
Tigerair Mandala.
In January this year, two new foreign airlines, Jetstar Airways and Hainan Airlines, started direct flights to Indonesia.
Hainan Airline, Chinas fourth-largest airline, has launched regular
flights, three times a week, between Beijing and Bali as of January 15,
2014.
Bambang Sugiono, a member of the Association of Indonesian Tour and
Travel Agencies (ASITA) focusing on serving Chinese tourists, said on
Monday the flight will contribute to Chinese tourist arrivals, which is
already high.
He estimated that the number of Chinese tourists flying to Bali can be as high as 1,000 per day.
Tourist arrivals in Indonesia have risen dramatically, with a growth of about seven to eight percent per year.
"The arrivals of foreign tourists are increasing every year.
Foreign exchange contributed by the tourism sector also rose. It is
higher than the national economic growth," Tourism and Creative Economy
Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said recently.
In 2013, a total of 8.8 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia,
up 9.2 percent from the previous year. The country received foreign
exchange worth US$10.05 billion, an increase of 10.23 percent from that
in 2012.
In January 2014, the number of foreign tourists who visited
Indonesia surged 22.6 percent to 753,079, from the same period last
year, according to Indonesia-investments.com.
The 22.6 percent surge was partly due to the Chinese New Year
celebrations at the end of January. Many visitors from China, Hong Kong,
Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia traveled to Indonesia to celebrate the
event.
Source : Antara
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