Almost 2000% Increase In Arrivals To Bali During Peak Holiday Season

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A staggering increase in international arrivals to Bali in 2022 compared to 2020, and 2021 is hardly surprising. With the travel industry decimated by the impact of international lockdowns and border closures, the number of visitors to the Island of the Gods dropped to near zero.

However, the latest figures are a reason to celebrate. Indonesia saw a 1973.6% increase in international arrivals in June 2022. Meaning the tourism sector is edging ever closer to its pre-pandemic strength.

Figures have been shared by the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency, show that foreign arrivals to Indonesia as a whole reached 345,440 in June 2022. This is an increase of 1,973.96% on June 2021. However, the metric may be viewed most usefully when looking at data month upon month.

The figures for June 2022 are a 62.69% increase from May 2022. This is a positive sign for the tourism sector in Bali. The majority of the nearly 350,000 international arrivals landed in Bali. 

Speaking at a press conference in Jakarta the head of the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency, Margo Yuwono said that the benefits of increased tourist arrivals are not only felt by the tourism sector.

She said ‘because we all know that foreign tourist visits have a big impact on economists in Indonesia because almost all sectors receive the impact of foreign in tourist visiting Indonesia’. These sectors includes retail, transportation and health and wellness.

She continued to say ‘So, this shows good news, seen from the [data] that since April, May, June foreign tourist visits have continued to show an increase in line with improvements in mobility and healthcare in Indonesia’. 

She confirmed that although the data is showing positive trends, the recovery from the impacts of Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021 is still being felt. Although the figures are better than 2021, tourist arrivals remain far from pre-pandemic numbers. 

Data from Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport confirm that there were 181,545 international arrivals in June 2022. While there were 85,587 international arrivals to Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport. When it comes to the nationality of international visitors, Australia tops the charts once again with 64,500 Australian arrivals into Indonesia in June 2022 alone. This was an increase of 87.6% compared to May 2022. 

The Indonesian Central Statistics Agency confirmed that the majority of international arrivals were taking advantage of the visitor visa on arrival program that has now been rolled out to include citizens from 75 countries.

Bali’s tourism sector is welcoming tourists back with much delight. Although there was speculation this week that Bali’s International Airport was struggling to cope with the recent influx of arrivals. A travel blogger shared photos online of long queues in the immigration all of Ngurah Rai.

He reported hearing stories from fellow passengers who had been waiting to enter the country for over 5-hours. Though Bali Airport management and immigration watched the blogger’s movements back on CCTV and found that he had only had to wait for 53-minutes,. Despite the peak hour foot traffic through the arrivals hall the longest wait time was closer to 2 hours than five. 

The blogger has since clarified the details of his experience and Bali Immigration has confirmed that he has been given the warning to leave Bali on the grounds that his accusations were unfounded.

Arrivals figures are expected to reach a plateau as the middle of the peak season passes. Bali’s peak tourist season runs from mid-May, through June, July, and August and starts to tail off heading into September. There is another busy period for international arrivals around the Christmas holidays, while there is a high influx of domestic travelers to Bali during the Eid Al-Fitr festival.