DENPASAR ~

Bank Indonesia Representative Office of Bali Province stated that the tourism sector on the island still remains promising despite the current slowdown in global economic growth.

“The potential for the development of tourism in Bali is still very promising,” said Head of Bali Provincial Representative of Bank Indonesia Dewi Setyowati in Denpasar on Tuesday.

According to her, despite the slowing world economic growth, but the growth of the tourism sector is still in a rising trend.

She cited the data from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTCC), an industry forum of international travel and tourism, that the tourism sector estimated to grow by four percent.

That number is higher than the financial sector, transport and manufacturing.

While the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), is also projecting an increase of up to four percent of the number of international tourists in 2015.

That number will grow from one billion to two billion people in the period 2013 to 2035.

In fact, based on a survey conducted by the UNWTO, travelling abroad has now become the second highest priority after a vehicle for middle-income families in the world, China for example, the country with the largest share of the tourism market today.”This condition would be an opportunity for Bali, in which the economy is based on tourism. In the midst of a slowdown in other economic activities, the tourism sector is still the backbone of economic growth in this region,” she said.

In the first quarter of 2015, the number of tourist arrivals reached about 946 thousand tourists, an increase compared to the same period the previous year that reached about 831 thousand tourists.

That number grew about 14 percent, higher than the average growth in the first quarter over the last five years (2011-2015), which amounted to 11.54 percent.

Tourism opportunities on the island are also open wider along with the improvement of tourism competitiveness of Indonesia as reflected in Indonesia’s ranking in tourism index report on the World Economic Forum (WEF).

WEF put Indonesia in level 50, up 20 levels from 2013 which was in level 70 based on the report, released every two years.

However, in the midst of development efforts that have been made, Dewi stated that there are several components that need to be improved.

Based on a survey of the main indicators in the tourism industry, the increase of which involves aspects such as environmental hygiene, hospitality, attractions (cleanliness and attractions fame), and short distance transportation.

In addition the long-distance transportation aspects such as flight availability, supporting infrastructure, acces to Bali (ease of obtaining a visa) and international promotion.

“It needs to be underlined that tourism competitiveness is not only shaped by many factors, but it also involves the cooperation and commitment of many parties,” said Dewi.