Visitors invited to extend their vacations

Thejakartapost.com - Visitors invited to extend their vacations - The Bali provincial administration and figures in the tourism industry are inviting tourists to stay longer when holidaying in Bali to boost income and hotel occupancy rates. Putu Budiasa, head of the Denpasar Tourism Office, said the number of visitors coming to the city and other parts of the island had been increasing in the last few months, but hotel occupancy rates remained quite low.

Budiasa said that the average length of stay of visitors from Europe, America and Asia was between nine days and two weeks. Many stayed around seven days in Sanur and Denpasar and continued their holidays outside Bali, he added.



Data from the Bali Statistics Agency showed that the average room occupancy rate in non-starred hotels in Bali remained at 35.93 percent in 2010, 36.51 percent in 2011 and 36.87 percent in 2012. For starred hotels, the room occupancy rate reached 60.62 percent in 2010, 62.15 percent in 2011 and 61.43 percent in 2012.

The number of foreign tourist arrivals reached 2.49 million in 2010, 2.79 million in 2011 and 2.89 million in 2012. At the same time, data showed around 4.6 million domestic tourists came to Bali in 2010. The number increased to 5.7 million in 2011 and 5.8 million of people in 2012.

The average length of stay of foreign tourists is between nine and 27 days, spending around US$1,200 per person per visit. Meanwhile, Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu, head of the provincial tourism office, said tourist arrivals from the Asia-Pacific region had dominated the market in the last three years.

Among the countries are Australia, Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, India and New Zealand. “Because they live in neighboring countries, their length of holidays in Bali is shorter than tourists coming from Europe and America,” Subhiksu explained.

Visitors from Europe and America usually holiday for longer during winter or summer for durations of two weeks to one month. “We’ve seen some progress in terms of markets. Currently, Bali is seeing emerging markets in addition to traditional ones like Australia, Japan, Taiwan and Europe,” said Subhiksu.

Every Bali regency has also tried to improve its tourist facilities to lure more visitors. “However, the length of stay of those tourists remains unchanged. We’re hoping they spend more time exploring new things in Bali,” he said. Bagus Sudibya, a tourism expert, said the quality of visitors to Bali was decreasing.

“In the past, every starred hotel hosted guests for at least two weeks and they spent more money,” Sudibya said. There were ways of increasing quality tourists as long as Bali was still seen as an attractive tourist destination, Sudibya said.

The quality of the island’s environment is far from ideal — as portrayed in many promotional magazines or websites — with sanitation problems, poor traffic management and serious air and noise pollution.

The amount of tourist accommodation has been surging uncontrollably, causing an unhealthy price war between hotels. “Most new players tend to just imitate existing hotel and tourist concepts. There are a very few innovations that appeal to foreign holidaymakers,” he said.

Tjok Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants (PHRI), said the quality of tourists could remain high provided all parties in the tourism industry as well as the provincial and regional governments were willing to work harder. All destinations must be improved, including public facilities and infrastructure, he said.

The average room occupancy rate in starred-hotels stood at 80 percent before the 2002 terrorist attacks, Sukawati went on. “In some starred hotels, guests now only stay between three and four days compared to 12 to 14 days years ago. In 2012, occupancy rates in some starred hotels only reached 50 percent,” he said.

Visitors invited to extend their vacations "sources" : http://www.thejakartapost.com/bali-daily/2013-03-30/visitors-invited-extend-their-vacations.html