Outbound

Bali Tourism hoping for direct connectivity from India

National carriers Garuda Indonesia and Air India to be ideal options

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

The Bali Government Tourism Office recently held its third Indian road show that attracted buyers and sellers from both countries. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Nyoman Wardawan, its head of tourism promotion division, said, "India and China are growing markets and people from these countries are travelling more. The Indian youth, like the Japanese, are travelling by themselves to new destinations and Bali could be a good choice."

The road show which featured delegates from Balanese hotels, resorts, the tourism board and the Indonesian consulate visited the key metro cities of Mumbai, Chennai, New Delhi and Hyderabad. Wardawan believes that the show will add to the increasing number of Indian visitors to Bali. "The Japanese inbound has been driving our tourism growth, being closely followed by Taiwan, Australia, South Korea and Malaysia. Indians started travelling to Bali in large numbers only from 2003, but by 2005 we had 6,792 visitors which rose to 12,792 in 2006 - a growth 88.34 per cent. With this increase in the number of Indian travellers to Bali, we are hoping for direct connections between India and Bali, through the national carriers of Air India and Garuda Indonesia, subject to approval of both governments."

Bali, about an hour and half away from Jakarta, offers visa on arrival from the Indonesia international airport for as little as INR 500, with a return ticket being the only documentation required. Also present at the road show was I Ketut Ardana, SH, vice chairman, Association of Indonesian Travel Agencies (ASITA) and managing director, Bali Sunshine Tours & Travel. According to him, "Out of the total six million tourists to Indonesia, we expect about 1.1 million tourists to visit Bali this year, and as a stakeholder in Bali Tourism, this road show will try its best to tap the Indian market. With such promotions, it is hoped that more Indians will visit the island of Bali, which is just a few hours' flight from Jakarta, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand."