Number of foreign tourist visiting Bali in 2008 is predicted to exceed the taregt of 1.9 million. The optimism based on the fact that to the end of October number of tourist arrivals has reached 1.784 million. “Number of arrivals in the remaining two months will surely significantly increased,” said the Head of Bali Tourism Office, Drs. Gede Nurjaya, M.M. when reporters asked him about the 1.9 million target set by the central government.

By experience previous years December will record the highest tourist arrivals compared to any other months along the year. December last year foreign tourist arrivals reached 300 thousands for that month alone. So even with a conservative estimate assuming that there will be no increase, the total number of foreign tourist arrivals for the whole year of 2008 will be over 2 million. “So we predict that the target will be easily met,” said Nurjaya.

The such optimism has been made possible by the fact that Bali remains the best holiday destination so far. Even more visiors can be expected in the future with improving facilities making it easier for foreign tourist to come to Bali. “In addition to direct flight from Shanghai to Bali, Russia is also planning to get the same,” he added.

The new direct routes will bring positive impact to tourism in Bali, especially at number of tourist arrivals from the two countries have been significantly increased during the last few consecutive years. “Chinese tourist arrivals is now ranked the 5th,” said Nurjaya. Three years back China was far below the big 10. The new route will give Bali a better chance to get a larger chunk of 30 million residents of China having their holiday abroad every year.

Russian tourist arrivals has also been increaded although in a loper pace. The big-5 tourist feeding countries this year are Japan, Australia, Korea, Taiwan, and China. In the future breatgroughs are needed to increase visiting tourist from other countries which also have significant potentials.

Therefore in addition to more extensive promotion, improvement on facilities and service quality are also important to give better comfort and safety as the are arrived. Nurjaya said that tour guides bring significant contribution on the service side. Therefore in addition to quality, ethical conduct has to be improved as well to avoid complains. The government will strictly apply penalty to negative-behaving tour guide.