Foreign Tourist Arrivals Increase in May

(7/19/2010)

Month after month of sustained growth in Bali foreign tourism arrivals screeched to a halt in April 2010 when arrivals not only stopped growing but actually decreased by almost 1% month-on-month against April 2009. This turn of events prompted many to ask: Had the bubble of Bali's dynamic pattern of growth suddenly burst or was this sudden change due to other more transitory factors, such as declining travel in the region resulting from political upheaval in Thailand?

May foreign arrival figures for Bali have placed the island back into positive growth, increasing 8.10% as compared to May 2009. May tourist arrivals totaled 196,719.

On a cumulative basis January-May 2010 produced 926,453 foreign visitors for Bali, up 12.02% from the same five months in 2009.

On the assumption that the current 12.02% growth rate can be sustained through the end of 2010, arrivals can be projected to finish the year at around 2.497 million

Bali Major Source Markets at a Glance

• Australia - Australia has further cemented its lead position as the largest source of Bali visitors. Month-on-month Australia arrivals increased 43.41% in May, coming in at 50,070. For the first five months of the current year Australian arrivals have increased 56.62%.

• Japan - Japan's economic downturn, in terms of Bali arrivals, continues to worsen. May's Japanese arrivals declined 25.46% (17,037) when compared to May 2009. On an aggregate basis, Japanese arrivals for January-May are down 23.25% from one year before.

• People's Republic of China - Although mainland China has moved squarely into third place in the race for Bali foreign tourist arrivals, May 2010 figures month-on-month declined 19.16% (12,484). This may be a worrying warning signal of a larger slowdown for Chinese visitors to come as Bali experienced a decline of 2.32% in Chinese arrivals on a cumulative basis for January-May 2010.

• Malaysia - Malaysia, now in fourth place as a Bali source market, is softening. May arrivals month-on-month are down 2% (13,888). On a cumulative basis January-May, Malaysian arrivals are down 5.36%.

• South Korea - South Korean arrivals are also softening, down 4.1% month-on-moth (10,844). For the first five months of the year, South Korean totals are down 6.11%.

• United Kingdom - In 7th place and growing by leaps and bounds, U.K. arrivals increased 13.5% in May 2010. On an aggregate basis for the first five months of the year, U.K. arrivals to Bali are up a whopping 27.09%

• France - France's record of growing arrivals for Bali may be coming to an end with May's totals declining month-on-month by 16.01% (10,161). On a cumulative basis for the first five months of 2010, French arrivals declined 0.44%.

• Russia - Russian arrivals month-on-month improved 3.2% for May (3,548). On the aggregate for January-May Russian visitors are down 0.37%.

• Netherlands - Buoyed a resumption of service to Amsterdam by Garuda Indonesia, May arrivals from the Netherlands have increased 52.5%. Similarly, on a January-May basis Dutch arrivals have increased 49.79%.

• U.S.A. - U.S.A. arrivals for May are down 4.2% (5,631). On the aggregate, however, January-May, U.S. arrivals are up 6.83%.

• Germany - German arrivals to Bali increased 10.5% month-on-month for May 2010 (7,865). German performance for January-May remains strong, up 8.46%.

Arrivals on a Regional Basis

Arrivals by geographical original are up across the board for Bali, as shown on the graphs presented on balidiscovery.com. On a combined basis, arrivals from ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific now constitute a 69.5% market share of all Bali arrivals. Meanwhile, arrivals from Europe and the Americas comprise a 29.71% market share.