Badung Regency Predicts 10% More Tourists in 2012

Ambitious Tourism Targets from Badung Regency for 2012 Bring Warnings About Putting Quantity Before Quality in Promoting Bali Tourism

Bali News: Badung Regency Predicts 10% More Tourists in 2012

(10/2/2011)

The tourism service of the Badung regency of Bali is targeting 3 million tourist visits to tourist objects in South Bali in 2012.

This target is more than a 10% increase over the estimated 2.7 foreign million tourists projected to visit Bali in 2011.

“We are optimistic that the currently conducive condition of tourism will allow us to achieve 2.7 million foreign tourists this year. When we look at the latest data, foreign tourists who have visited Bali so far this year have exceeded two million people,” explained the head of tourism for Badung, Cok Raka Darmawan to the Bali Post on Tuesday, September 29, 2011.

Darmawan said that various efforts are underway to achieve current arrival targets. Promotions are being carried out both in Indonesia and abroad. The Badung regency also continues to support various festivals to encourage increased visitor totals to Bali.

“If we look the various festivals, such as the Legian Beach Festival (LBF), Kuta Karnival and Nusa Dua Fiesta – all are being conducted by the public and members of the tourism industry. We fully support such events,” said Darmawan speaking on behalf of the Badung Tourism Office.

Saying he hoped the festivals held in Bali this year will demonstrate improvement, bringing more tourists to the island.

A Warning

Meanwhile, a tourism observer, Dr. I Nyoman Madiun, is calling on the government to pay more attention to quality over quantity in promoting tourism in order not to damage Bali’s reputation. He said that while the number of tourists visiting Bali continues to grow, the revenues obtained from individual visitors and length of stay are still much less than in neighboring destinations. Madiun also sees “low quality” visitors to Bali as an environmental threat, breeding a lessened respect for nature and sustainable tourism.

Said Madiun, “the government must focus on quality tourists with high spending and longer lengths of stay, because this type of visitor tend to have a higher concern for preserving the natural environment.”

Source: Bali Discovery