JAPANESE TOURISTS TO BALI DOWN 23.86 PCT

Denpasar, Mar 6 (ANTARA) - The number of Japanese tourists to Bali has dropped by 23.86 pct from 25,357 in January 2009 to 19,308 in January 2010.

"The drop was worse than in December 2009 their number reached 28,048, a 31.16 pct decline," head of the Bali Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Ida Komang Wisnu said here Saturday.

She said the number of Japanese holidaying in Bali in the last few years had been decreasing and this development needs to be anticipated in the hope they would still be coming to the island resort for a holiday.

Last year their number reached 333,905, a 7.2 pct drop compared to 2008's 359,824.

Ida Komang Wisnu added that while the Japanese tourists coming to Bali had been declining, their number is still second after Australia on the list of those from the 10 countries visiting Bali.

Japan contributed 10.77 pct of the total number of f179,273 foreign tourists to Bali in January 2010, a 2.71 pct increase compared to the same month last year.

Of the tourists from 10 countries to Bali, those from four countries had increased in number significantly, and those from six countries had declined.

The four countries are Australia with an increase of nearly 60 pct from 27,966 in January 2009 to 44,412 in January 2010, South Korea 26.49 pct from 8,105 to 10,252, Holland 40.10 pct from 4,444 to 6,226 , and Russia by 2.51 pct from 8,901 to 9,124.
The six countries whose tourists to Bali had declined are Japan, and China by 31.44 pct, Taiwan 8.55 pct, Malaysia 28 pct, France 6.17 pct, and the United States 8.36 pct, Ida Komang Wisnu said.