DENPASAR ~

The Bali provincial administration said it hopes to see an increase of 500,000 in the number of foreign tourists visiting the island in 2015.

“At least we hope to chalk up an increase of 500,000 to around 4 million in 2015,” head of the regional tourism office Anak Agung Gede Yuniarta Putra said in Thursday. This year, the number of foreign visitors to Bali is forecast to reach 3.5 million, Yuniarta said.

To ensure that the target would be reached, he said his office would launch promotional campaigns utilizing information technology, direct promotion to be assisted through the national tourism promotion program.

He said increase is expected in the number of visitors from five countries with which visa free facility has been offered including Australia, Japan, China, South Korea and Russia.

In 2015, the provincial administration will set aside Rp5 billion for promotional campaigns. “It’s not much, but we will make every efforts,” he said

He said he is optimistic the target could be reached based on the performance this year. In the first 10 months of the year around 3.2 million foreign tourists already visited Bali, he said.

“I think with more visitors expected in November and December the 3.5 million targets would be overshot,” he said.

Yuniarta said tourists from Australia are still the largest among foreign visitors to Bali.