Bali still main destination of Australian tourists

Denpasar, Bali (Antara) - Bali appears to have remained a main destination for Australians as the number of Australian tourists visiting Bali is only second to that of Japanese tourists, a local statistical official said.

Some 204,473 Australian tourists were among a total of 1,666,079 foreign tourists who visited Bali in 2007, the head of the local statistical bureau, Ida Komang Wisnu, said on Tuesday.

He said it was a significant increase compared with 2006 when the figure was only 137,000.

Meanwhile, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Indonesia in 2007 was recorded at 351,633, while tourists from Taiwan were in the third place with 138,849 people.

He said some of the tourists came to Bali not only for a vacation but also for business.

The head of the local foreign trade office, Ni Wayan Kusumawathi, separately said realization of Bali`s exports of handicraft and other non-oil/non-gas commodities to Australia increased to US$29 million, compared with only US25 million in 2006.

Indonesia has set itself the target of attracting seven million foreign tourists this year through its Visit Indonesia Year 2008 program.

Many provinces, including Papua, have prepared special packages to attract foreign tourists.