DENPASAR ~

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Bali Island reached 330,172 people, or an increase of 45.78 percent during January-July 2014, from 226,494 people in last year’s same period.

“The significant increase puts China in the second place in the list of countries contributing the largest number of tourists to Bali, after Australia, which is at the top,” Panasunan Siregar, the head of the Bali Bureau of Statistic Center, said here on Sunday.

The number of Chinese tourists in Bali has surpassed the number of those from Malaysia and Japan.

China contributed 15.80 percent of the total number of foreign tourists visiting Bali, which is 2.06 million in the first seven months of this years.

The total number of foreign tourists visiting Bali in the first seven months this year was also up by 16.66 percent, reaching 2.08 million people from 1.79 million in the same period last year.

Bali, one of the world’s most famous tourist destinations, has set a target of attracting at least 3.5 million foreign tourists, or a 10 percent increase, in 2014 from last year’s target of 3.18 million.

The total number of foreign travelers who visited Bali in 2012 was around 2.89 million, or 96.4 percent of the target set.

In 2013, Bali exceeded its target of attracting 3.1 million foreign tourists, as the number of direct foreign tourist arrivals to the island reached 3,278,697, or up by 13.37 percent from last year’s figure.

In January-June period this year, the number of foreign visitors to Bali totaled 1,727,875, a hike of 15.73 percent from 1,493,020 in the same period last year.

Australia supplied the highest number, with 446,406 visitors, in the same period, followed by visitors from China reaching 264,840 and Malaysia 109,298.

The number of Russian holiday makers visiting Bali, however, has declined lately due to escalation of conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The number of Russians visiting Bali shrank 12 percent to 29,783 in the first half of this year from 45,216 in the same period in 2013.