REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR -- Chinese tourists visiting Bali shot up in number with arrivals rising 59.6 percent to 616,233 in the first five months of this year from the same period last year.
"The number was 230,137 larger in the January-May period than 386,096 in the first five months of 2016, head of the Bali Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Adi Nugroho said here on Saturday.
Most of the visitors came by air via the International Airport of Ngurah Rai and a few came by sea on board tourist boats with 134 arrivals, Adi said.
China accounted for 26.71 percent or the largest among ten main countries of origin in number of foreign tourists visiting Bali in the first five months of the years. There were 2.3 million visits by foreign tourist to Bali in that period or an increase of 23.66 percent from 1.85 visits in the same period last year.