Indonesia and Bali still seeing booming tourist trade

Despite global gloom, Indonesia’s tourist arrivals are still seeing very healthy growth, particular in relation to Bali, and now the country is predicting tourist numbers will grow by 25% in 2009.

For the ten months to October end, international arrivals hit 5.1 million, lifting some 13% on top of 2007 figures, of this figure some one million travellers travelled to Indonesia with intentions to visit Bali.

Looking to 2009, Indonesia is confident that it can repeat the success of 2008 again.

The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism is predicting eight million international arrivals, or a 25% increase on this year’s figures, which is expected to sit at around 6.4 million.

“With the looming crisis, I’m afraid we won’t have the expected peak of foreign tourist arrivals in December... But you can’t say that the government has failed,” said Sapta Nirwandar, a director general at the Ministry of Tourism, reported The Jakarta Post.

In the ten months being accounted for, some quarter of a million tourists in Bali were Australians, signalling the renewal of the Australian appetite for the exotic island destination.

Australians are travelling there despite the government travel warnings, and both Jetstar and Garuda have reported nearly full planes.

“Advance bookings did drop off but there has been a lot of last-minute bookings for next week,” said a spokesperson for Jetstar to The Australian.

Garuda added, “We’re confident that Bali will come out of it reasonably well, as people make their holiday plans and they start to reconsider going there.”