REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR -- Bali's tourism operators have welcomed the government's decision to provide visa-free facility to the Russian tourists visiting the resort province, stated Bali tourism observer Made Sudana.

"The granting of the facility must be coupled with the opening of more flights between Indonesia and Russia, so that the number of Russian tourists to Bali will increase," Sudana, who is also a tourism operator, remarked here on Wednesday.

He pointed out that it was difficult to expect more visits of Russian tourists unless the number of flights is increased. So far, Russian tourists had faced problems in visiting Bali as there were no regular flights from their country to Bali.

According to Made, generally affluent Russian tourists boarded a chartered plane to visit Bali as there is no regular flight, so far, from Indonesia to Russia, let alone from Bali.

Commonly, tourists coming from Russia belong to the upper class and often stay in luxury hotels in the Nusa Dua and Jimbaran areas. They arrive in a chartered plane, he asserted.

Made noted that Russian tourists usually come to holiday in Bali at the beginning of the year. But, the number of Russian tourists has been declining of late.

"Almost every month this year, the number of Russian tourists continues to drop," he remarked.

Based on data from Bali's Tourism Service, the number of Russian tourists visiting Bali over the last nine months dropped 7.52 percent from 60,064 in January-September 2013 to 55,545.

Russian tourists only accounted for two percent of the total foreign tourists arriving in Bali in the same period, which stood at 2,780,747 in January-September 2014.

With the implementation of the visa-free facility, the number of Russian tourists visiting Bali is expected to increase.

In the meantime, Dewa Rai Budiasa, a tourism industry observer, stated last month that Bali still has its own magical charm that can attract foreign visitors.

Some 2.4 million foreign tourists visited Bali from January to August 2014, up 15.5 percent from 2.1 million as compared to the same period last year.

Of the total number, 624,803 tourists or 25.76 percent came from Australia.

The number of Chinese tourists was 389,622, or up 47.36 percent from 264,409 people in the same period last year.

Malaysia ranked third in the list, with 137,060 tourists, an increase of 14.07 percent.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika