0 Drop in Aussie visitors could impact tourism

The Bali Tourism Agency said the province had seen slower growth in Australian tourist visits these last few years, alerting it that serious attention was needed, as the country has long been the biggest tourist contributor to the island. The agency’s promotion head, I Nyoman Wardawan, said that given Australian visitors contributed most to Bali’s tourist figures, declining growth could impact tremendously on the island’s overall visitor numbers, so even the slightest decrease should not be played down. 

Nyoman said Australian tourists last year contributed 25.2 percent of Bali’s total visitors, adding that the figure was higher than other visitors from Europe, Southeast Asia and America. The number of Australian visitors, however, posted growth of less than 1 percent last year compared to the previous year. “Because its role is very dominant in our tourist market, every little increase or decline can deeply affect Bali’s visitor statistics. We need to pay serious attention and scrutinize this issue to find the solution,” he said. 

The latest data from the agency shows that despite more tourists arriving from the neighboring country every year, the province experienced double-digit drops in the rate of growth of Australian tourists in 2011 and 2012. The data shows that 3.28 million tourists visited the island last year, up by 13.37 percent compared to the previous year. While overall tourist numbers increased, Australian visitors booked a muted growth of 0.31 percent in 2013. 

The percentage growth of Australian visitors was huge in 2009 and 2010, reaching 44.49 percent and 45.25 percent, respectively, at the same time replacing Japan as the island’s biggest tourist contributor. This growth, however, slumped to 22.09 percent in 2011 and recorded a further decline to 4.15 percent in 2012. Nyoman admitted that the administration had made its last promotion effort to Australia in 2008, adding that tourism enterprises and associations resumed efforts on their own in the succeeding years. 

“We need to carry out a road show to Australia and meet relevant parties there to actually comprehend its current condition,” he said. Ketut Ardana, head of the Bali chapter of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (Asita), said he had yet to speak with members, especially those handling clients from Australia. “We will coordinate on this immediately, because Australia is not a market we can neglect, both in promotion and management,” he said. 

Krisna Teja, the association’s division head for the Australian market, acknowledged that the number of tourists from that particular country handled by his firm decreased by around 10 percent in 2013. He said a similar situation had happened to other companies as well. Krisna said he initially thought that the drop was temporary as Australians were opting to travel to farther away destinations after the country’s economic recovery post the global recession. 

He, however, doubted this premise after the drop continued into the current year. “We’re still optimistic, so are our Australian partners. But then questions appeared when the figures also dropped in the current year,” he said. “We have to find out what is actually happening,” he said. Based on his records, he saw a 6 percent decline in January to February, compared to the same period last year. On the Jakarta-Australia tension, which heated up again just last week, Krisna said the issue would not disrupt tourist interest. 

“Australia’s growing economy will result in more middle-income people and many of them haven’t been to Bali,” he said. “They will use the momentum to come here.” Despite the lower growth, Krisna praised the industry for its self-promotions so far, which had introduced the island to many Australians. He, however, reminded the tourist industry to keep improving and developing infrastructure. “The airport construction isn’t done yet and traffic congestion happens everywhere. We need to fix this,” he said.

source : bali daily