AUSTRALIAN TOURIST ARRIVALS IN BALI REMAIN HIGH

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 4 (Antara) - Australian tourists visiting Indonesia's tourist resort province of Bali have continued to increase, regardless of the impact of Australian nationals Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran being sentenced to death in 2006 on drug charges.         Indonesia's plan to carry out the execution of the Australian death convicts has strained relations between Canberra and Jakarta during the past few months. Yet it has not hurt the Australian tourist traffic coming to Bali.         The two Australian convicts have been lodged in a Bali prison since they received the death penalty in 2006. But they were recently moved to a prison on the Nusakambangan Island, Cilacap District, Central Java, to be executed.         Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were members of the 'Bali Nine' drug ring, a group of drug traffickers, who were arrested on April 17, 2005 in Bali while trying to smuggle out 8.3 kilograms of heroin worth Rp40 billion to Australia.           Indonesia's decision to execute the two Australian nationals had led to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott issuing a warning to Indonesia. He was also quoted by ABC as saying that his government "will find ways to make its displeasure known if the executions are carried out."    It was also reported that the Australian threats would include a call for boycotting Bali's tourism.         However, the number of tourists from Australia visiting Bali had continued to increase.         "This indicates that Australian tourists are ignoring warnings against visiting Indonesia, particularly Bali," tourism observer Tjok Gede Agung told Antara Bali on Saturday.         According to data revealed by the Central Bureau of Statistics, 991,923 Australian tourists visited Bali in 2014, showing an increase of 20 percent, compared with the number of tourists from that country in the year before.         In January 2015, Bali recorded 85,059 tourist arrivals from Australia. During the past two months, Australian tourists visiting the province were still the highest among other foreign tourist arrivals, reaching 156,424, up 16.74 percent from the same period last year, when their number was estimated to be 133,966.         Further, Australian tourist arrivals were the highest among foreign tourists arriving from different countries. They accounted for 24.41 percent of the total number of foreign tourists arriving in the first two months of 2015, which stood at 640,739.         The highest number of Australian tourists arriving in Bali was followed by the number of foreign tourists coming from China, which stood at 145,747 during the same period (January and February, 2015).         Actually, Indonesia saw the highest number of foreign tourist visits in February 2015. The number was a record high during the month in the last decade.         In February 2015, the number of foreign tourist totaled 786,653, reflecting an increase of 11.95 percent from 702,666 arrivals a year ago.         China was the largest contributor to the number of tourist arrivals in Indonesia in February 2015, BPS said.         BPS Chief Suryaman said China accounted for 18.2 percent or 144,000 of the total number of 786,700 foreign tourist arrivals to the country in February.         After China, it was Malaysia, which accounted for 12.43 percent or 97,800 arrivals, followed by Singapore at 12.39 percent, Australia at 10.43 percent and Japan at 5.89 percent.         "Most of the Chinese visitors might also want to do business in Indonesia," Suryamin told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday.         The number rose even before the government announced a visa free facility for more than 30 countries, including China, which will be effective from April, he said.         Tourism Minister Arif Yahya said the number of arrivals had rebounded after a year-on-year decline of 3.99 percent in January.         The minister partly attributed the surge in February to the Chinese new year celebrations on February 19.         In addition, there were a number of events, such as Jalur Samudera Cheng Ho (JSC) in Batam, the Holy Color Festival 2015: the Festival of Love in Jakarta, and the Indonesia Fashion Week 2015 in Jakarta.         Cumulatively, foreign tourist arrivals during the first two months of this year totaled 1,509,692 or an increase of 3.71 percent.         The number of tourists from China is expected to increase with the visa free facility for tourists from 30 more countries.         The 30 countries have been added to a list of 15 countries from which tourists already enjoy a visa free facility.         The policy is expected to double the number foreign tourist arrivals to 20 million in 2019 or by the end of the present government's term.      Indonesia has set a target of earning US$1 billion as additional income from the visa free services it is offering to tourists from 45 countries.         "By implementing the visa free policy, we aim to increase the number of foreign tourist arrivals by one billion, which will contribute US$1 billion in foreign exchange reserves," Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Indroyono Soesilo, said.         Initially, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya had proposed a visa free policy only for the four tourism markets of China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia.         Later, the number was increased to 30 countries, bringing the total count to 45.         "We will benefit from granting this facility, which is an effort to increase the number of foreign tourist arrivals. The easiest way to boost tourist traffic is to provide this facility," the minister explained. ***1*** (T.A014/INE/B003) EDITED BY INE (T.A014/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 04-04-2015 19:26:0