REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR -- China has currently surpassed Australia as the country with the highest number of tourist arrivals in Bali Province.

"China once stood third, but now, it has overtaken Japan and Australia to perch itself in the first place for the highest number of tourists visiting Bali," Head of Bali Province's Central Statistics Agency Adi Nugroho stated here on Monday.

Nugroho remarked that Australia came second followed by Japan among the top ten countries whose tourists had visited Dewata Island, Bali Province.

As many as 93,920 Chinese tourists had visited Bali in February 2016, an increase of 48.75 percent compared to 76,919 people in January 2016.

A total of 338,991 tourists from the bamboo curtain country visited Bali in February 2016, contributing as much as 30.45 percent of the total foreign tourist arrivals.

Furthermore, Nugroho said the number of Australian and South Korean tourists visiting Bali had decreased, while eight other countries had registered a significant increase in the number of visitors.

The number of Chinese tourists to Bali increased due to various factors such as good economic growth in China and the additional flights to travel destinations offered by Garuda Indonesia Airline to expand its market in the country.

The airline added a new route from Denpasar to Shanghai after starting the Denpasar-Beijing and Denpasar-Guangzhou routes in 2015.

Nugroho further noted that China had become one of the markets for expanding Garuda Indonesia's international network, given the country's huge tourist potential, with some 100 million Chinese heading to destinations around the world.

The arrival of tourists from China and other countries to Bali is expected to grow further in 2016.

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