DENPASAR ~

Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika expected to improve the Bali’s tourism image to Chinese people following the plan of opening China consulate office on the island.

“So far, there are cases in which the image of Bali tourism looks bad to China due to actions of some unscrupulous travel agents who sell a tour package to Bali with a very cheap price, the travelers then being sold to other tourism workers,” he said when accepted audience of China Consulate General to Denpasar Hu Yin Quan, in Denpasar, on Friday.

According to Mangku Pastika, due to tourism practices, in the end making Chinese travelers who visit Bali do not get a good service. “I look forward to the opening of Chinese Consulate in Bali, so the case can be solved,” he said.

Pastika added that so far Bali also has pioneered collaboration of “sister province” with Hainan Province and Yunnan Province in China. With the opening of consulate office in Bali, it is expected to establish closer diplomatic cooperation and problems happened lately, especially in tourism sector can get a solution.

Meanwhile the Chinese Consulate General to Denpasar Hu Yin Quan, said that the Office of Chinese Consulate General in Bali is the third consulate office in Indonesia after Surabaya and Medan.

The opening of the consulate office in Bali is very important because of the high frequency of mobility of Chinese and Balinese citizens. Chinese tourists visit to Bali is very large, reaching 990 thousand people in 2013.

Until May 2014, the number of visit to Bali has reached 440 thousands and in 2015 is expected to reach two million tourists.

Moreover, he added that the consulate could be a good bridge to strengthen cooperation in the political, economy, trade and tourism, therefore Bali Provincial Government assistance is expected.

Hu Yin Quan added, for Balinese people who have dealt with China, all things could be taken care from Bali through the Chinese Consulate General in Bali.

The temporarily the office operational is still carried out at Ayodya Hotel, Nusa Dua, Badung regency while waiting for the permanent office location that will be informed later.