DENPASAR ~

The number of foreign tourists visiting Bali Island reached 3.76 million during 2014, up 14.89 percent from 3.27 million in the previous year.

“Most of the tourists landed in Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, by direct flights from their countries. Only 34,903 tourists came by cruisers,” Head of the Bali Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Panusunan Siregar said, Monday.

The number surpassed the target set by Bali at 2,9 million foreign tourists in 2014.

Of the ten top tourist sources, nine showed significant increase, and only Taiwan recorded a drop from 127,443 people in 2013 to 114,504 in 2014.

Australia sent 991,923 tourists to Bali last year, up 20.03 percent from 826,385 in 2013.

He said the Australian tourists constituted 26.33 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting the Island of Gods, followed by China 586,300 tourists, or an increase of 51.29 percent from 387,533 people in 2013.

In the third place is Malaysia with 225,572 tourists last year, or up by 13.23 percent from 199,223 in the previous year; followed by Japan 217,402 tourists, a hike of 4.46 percent from 208,115 people; Singapore 179,719 tourists; South Korea 146,088; France 128,350; Britain 127,040; Taiwan 114,504; and the USA 111,640 tourists last year.

In the meantime, 9.44 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia in the January-December 2014 period, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) reported.

“Cumulatively, the number of foreign tourists that visited the country in 2014 reached 9.44 million, which is an increase of 7.19 percent from the 8.32 million recorded in 2013,” Head of the BPS, Suryamin, told the press in Jakarta, Monday.

In December 2014 alone, some 915.3 thousand foreign tourists visited Indonesia. This was a 19.74 percent rise from that in November, and 6.35 percent year-on-year surge from the 860.7 thousand tourists in December 2013.

Furthermore, a significant increase of 73.06 percent was recorded in the number of tourist arrivals at Lombok International Airport (BIL), West Nusa Tenggara province.

The rise at Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, was 15.11 percent, followed by Minangkabau International Airport in West Sumatra at 13.73 percent.

“The lowest surge was at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, at just 0.26 percent,” Suryamin stated.