The Tourism Ministry has set a target to attract 7 million foreign tourists to Bali next year.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the target was not reduced as the number of foreign tourists visiting Bali were lower when compared to 25 million and 32 million foreign tourist arrivals in Malaysia and Thailand, respectively.
He said that Bangkok welcomed 18 million tourists per year, adding that Bali actually had more to offer than the capital of Thailand.
Tempo.co reported that the ministry’s target to attract 6 million foreign tourists to Bali in 2017 would not be achieved.
As of October, Bali had actually welcomed 5 million foreign tourists. However, the recent volcanic activity of Mount Agung in Karangasem saw the rate of foreign tourist arrivals slow.
Arief said that although the ministry had failed to achieve its target, the Bali administration’s target of attracting 5.5 million foreign tourists had been achieved.
To boost tourist arrivals, the ministry is currently spending Rp 100 billion (US$7.36 million) to promote Bali.
