Despite Bali volcano disruption Indonesia tourism posts double digit growth
Indonesia welcomed 12.68 million visitors last year to the end of November, up nearly 22% year-on-year.
While the numbers are positive, it will fall short of its target of 15 million for the full year, thanks to the disruption caused by the volcanic activity at Bali’s Mount Agung.
Thousands had cancelled trips for the last two months of the year, with the all-important Bali Christmas peak season expected to be one of the worst for many years.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) is still awaiting final tourism data for December 2017.
"Let’s just wait for the December data to know how many foreign tourists we welcomed in 2017," said BPS head Suhariyanto.
Arrivals at Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport and Lombok International Airport, which were both closed for several days due to a shifting volcanic ash cloud, plunged steeply in November by 22% and 14% respectively.
That was enough to see Bali arrivals drop by nearly 10% for the year so far.
Similar figures are expected for December and hotels have struggled to fill rooms during the peak holiday period despite big discounting.
Overall, China was the largest source market, responsible for 13.36% of total tourist arrivals in November.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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