DENPASAR ~ Japanese dominated foreign tourist arrivals to Bali in the first three months of the year, state media reported.

“Around 24 percent of a total of 346,942 foreign tourists who came to Bali in January to March this year were from Japan,” Indonesian Hotel and Restaurants Association official I B Ngurah Kumbayana was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.

He said Australians, accounting for 10.3 percent of the foreign tourist arrivals, were second on the list, followed by Taiwanese at 9.3 percent.

The central government said it is currently working on amending its controversial tourism visa policy, seen by the tourism industry as damaging to the sector. Among the new provisions will be changing the current 30-day visa-on-arrival to 90 days, as well as expanding the number of countries that can avail of the facility.