0 Bali may miss revenue target

Bali’s tourist industry would likely fail to achieve its 2012 revenue target of Rp 52.20 trillion (US$5.4 billion) from domestic and foreign visitors, an official has revealed. Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu, head of the provincial tourism office, said that there would be a correction made to the revenue calculation. “It was projected earlier that the number of foreign tourist arrivals would reach 3 million people. If it had been achieved, Bali would have generated US$4.80 billion in revenue, or equivalent to Rp 43.2 trillion with a rate of Rp 9,000 per one US dollar,” he explained. 

Meanwhile, revenue from the arrival of domestic visitors is estimated to have reached Rp 13 trillion, making the total projected revenue equivalent to Rp 56.2 trillion. “With some corrections and adjustments, we are hoping to have achieved at least Rp 49 trillion, the amount Bali received last year from the tourism sector,” he noted. Bali’s tourism has always contributed above 40 percent to national tourism revenue. In 2011, Indonesia generated $8.47 billion from tourism, of which $3.96 billion came from Bali. In 2011, Bali generated Rp 49 trillion, above its target of Rp 47 trillion, in revenue. 

This comprised of $3.96 billion, or Rp 43.2 trillion, from foreign tourists, which was 94 percent of that target, while income from domestic tourists reached 130 percent of the targeted amount, at Rp 13 trillion. Subhiksu said that until November 2012, foreign tourist arrivals had reached 87 percent, or 2.62 million of the targeted 3 million people. “The growth rate reached only 4.55 percent on the previous year,” he added. At the same time, domestic tourist arrivals could be recorded until October 2012, reaching 70 percent of the targeted 6 million people. 

In 2011, the number of local tourists coming to Bali reached 5.67 million, an increase of 22.14 percent from the previous year. “The 3-million target was an optimistic projection, a more pessimistic number would be around 2.8 million foreign tourist arrivals,” he said. In 2013, Bali has set a quite ambitious target of luring 3.1 million foreign visitors as the island will host numerous world-scale conferences and events. Rani Setyodewanti, an analyst at the Bank Indonesia office for Bali and Nusa Tenggara region, said that the growth of trade for hotels and restaurants in the third quarter of 2012 stood at 5.41 percent, which could be compared with a growth rate of 5.95 percent in the second quarter of the same year. 

“The growth rates in these sectors slowed quite significantly from 8.59 percent in 2011 to an average of 5.41 percent in 2012,” she said. Similarly, the growth rate for tourist arrivals also fell from 10.59 percent in 2011 to four percent last year. “The slowdown in tourist arrivals in 2012 would certainly have a great impact on the growth rates in the hospitality industry and trade sector, as well as on tourism revenue in general,” stated Setyodewanti.

source : bali daily