The results of the first month of the year, announced by Bali Airport officials, are encouraging for Bali’s tourism industry.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns and travel restrictions, 2023 will be the first full calendar year for tourism. The government, tourism-related businesses and individuals have set their sights high for the new year.
The number of passengers passing through I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in January was cause for celebration, according to Handy Heryudhitiawan, the airport’s general manager. With international borders not fully reopened until February 2022, it will not be difficult to surpass the number of passengers handled in January 2022. January arrivals were up 163%.
“The increase in the number of passengers was influenced by the opening of [more] international flights since March 2022. In January 2023, I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport served 810.930 international passengers,” Heryudhitiawan shared,
He informed that of these people 427,624 left the island and 383,288 arrived. Of course, as the visitors who come to the island over Christmas and New Year’s depart and the low season begins, the departures in January outweigh the arrivals. Still, the fact that more than 350,000 visitors came is quite encouraging for Bali’s tourism industry.
Heryudhitiawan explained the context of the initial figures. He clarified that most visitors arrive in Bali from Singapore. Since Singapore is a well-liked transit destination for visitors from around the world, the Singapore-Bali route was the most popular with 168,744 passengers. This was followed by slightly less than 100,000 travelers from Kuala Lumpur and another 75,258 travelers from Melbourne arriving in Denpasar.
Australian tourists are still the ones that visit Bali the most frequently. 99,075 passengers in total arrived in Bali in January 2023 from seven places served by Australian direct flights. With 22,703 arrivals, Russian travelers came in second, followed by Indian visitors with 22,116.
At I Gusti Ngurah Rai International, domestic arrivals predominate over international arrivals. Heryudhitiawan told reporters, “as for domestic routes, flights from Soekarno Hatta International Airport became the largest contributor to passenger traffic with 328,939 passengers. Followed by Surabaya with 85,433 passengers and Ujung Pandang with 42,717 passengers.”
He added, “We hope that the upward trend in the number of domestic and international air travelers on the island of Bali will continue to be well maintained so that the reactivation of international flights to new routes is expected to be realized this year.”