Denpasar, Bali (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - The Bali tourism industry must penetrate new markets to anticipate the impact of the current global economic crisis that has hit its traditional market in Japan and Europe.
Ketut Ardana, deputy chairman of the Bali chapter of the Association of the Indonesian Tour and Travel (Asita Agents), told Bali Daily that diversification of tourist markets was badly needed to maintain the island's position as one of the world's top tourist destinations.
"There are some hotels, as well as tour and travel agencies that keep focusing on a single market - Japan, for instance," claimed Ardana.
Australia still tops the list, consistently sending the largest number of tourists to the island and many Aussie youngsters affectionately call it their second home.
Meanwhile, the Japanese market had remained relatively stable for Bali for over 10 years, with Japan always ranked second in number of tourists before China took over that position in 2011.
The decrease in 2011 was not an isolated incident; numbers had been steadily falling since 2009. In 2008, 354,817 Japanese tourists visited Bali. The number dropped 9.96 percent to 319,417 in 2009. In 2010, the number dropped by a significant 22.85 percent to 246,465. While the total number of Japanese tourists in 2011 reached only 6.65 percent of all foreign tourists visiting the island, lower than the 9.89 percent recorded in 2010.
The drop is likely to continue this year. In the first two months of 2012, the number of Japanese tourists had reached 28,720, a 19.93 percent drop compared to a similar period in 2011.
Ardana said that around 50 out of 345 Asita members were working on the Japanese market on the grounds that Japanese tourists were faithful to Bali.
The head of the Bali Tourism Office, Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu, attributed the continuous reduction in Japanese tourist numbers to the economic crisis Japan experienced in 2008 and the tsunami last year.
Subhiksu encouraged tourism industry to try to enter new markets such as Canada, India and Russia.
"It is high time for us all to explore new markets," he said.
Subhiksu also suggested that Bali improved the quality of tourist vacations in terms of length of stay, daily spending and environmental concerns.
"Marketing innovation and promotion are helpful to draw more tourists and to establish new markets," he said.
Perry Markus, secretary of the Bali office of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association, said since the global economic crisis hit in 2008, a lot of hotels in Bali have shifted their markets or mixed them combining both international and domestic clientele.
"Market diversification must be accompanied by a series of effective and extensive promotional efforts. Thailand and Malaysia have been doing great in the promotion of their prime tourist destinations at various international tourist events."
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