Staying for Shorter Periods and Spending Less in Bali

(10/3/2009)

Despite growing tourist arrivals to Bali, recent information released by Bank Indonesia show that the amount being spent by tourist visitors to Bali is on the decline.

Ida Bagus Viraguna Bagoes Oka who heads the Bali branch of Bank Indonesia, pointed to the changing composition of Bali visitors now dominated by Asians who stay for shorter periods and spend less on a per diem basis while holidaying in Bali.

Preliminary foreign arrival totals to Bali for August 2009 show 222,384 visitors, an increase of 18.53% over the same month in 2008 (187,584). However, more than 70% of all Bali arrivals now hail from the Asia-Pacific region that, according to Bank Indonesia, "take shorter holidays, spend less and stay in cheaper hotels."

Oka predicts that Bali's economic growth for Q3 2009 would slow to 5.6%, a decline of 0.3% from Q3 2008.

Shorter stays by oftentimes less-culturally inclined Asian visitors also results in reduced visits to the culturally-rich but more remote areas of Bali outside the island's busy south.