Bali's tourism industry continues to grow as local newswires report the Head of the Badung Regency Tourism Office, I Made Badra, as announcing total tourist visits in 2018 exceeded targets.

The number of arrivals at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport in 2018 reached 6,511,610 people narrowly beating the target of 6,500,000, which was an increase of over 10% on 2017's numbers.

Australia lead the way in December 2018

Australia was the largest single contributing country to Bali's tourism industry in December, followed by China, India, Malaysia and Singapore. Singaporean visitors alone recorded a 97.36% increase on November 2018's figures according to Badra.

The main differences between the months of December and November are the rise of Malaysia and Singapore. In November Japan and America took fourth and fifth spots.

Targets for 2019 raise the bar even higher. According to Nusa Bali, the former Head of the Badung Fisheries said that 2019's target was set at 6,800,000.

Can Bali Cope in 2019?

There seem to be two important questions around this: 1) will Bali be able to reach the projected numbers, and 2) will the island be able to cope? Because it's one thing to get people to visit and quite another to ensure their experience lives up to expectations and perceptions.

Andrzej Barski, Principal of Harcourts Seven Stones, has no doubt visitor arrivals will increase, especially as so many airlines now offer direct flights to Bali. At the time of writing, Garuda Indonesia for example, had just launched its first direct flights from London to Bali offering a 15-hour flight, three times a week.

Garuda now joins Singapore Airlines, Qatar, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific in offering London to Denpasar direct.

But Barski has questions around the island's ability to cope with the numbers unless all stakeholders, government and private, take a long hard look at the customer journey. He told WILLIAMS MEDIA "one of the fundamental aspects of the customer experience is the ability to deliver on expectations and perceptions. And these often begin on arrival at the airport."

Branding Bali

"When passengers have just stepped off a 15-hour flight and walk straight into long immigration queues and then are hounded by persistent groups of taxi drivers for example, all aggressively offering 'the best price' and all bargaining down to an even 'better price,' it sets the wrong tone and for some it's simply the worst 'welcome experience' and a difficult one to forget. This is why it's so important for Bali to think about its brand and how this brand is delivered. Everyone needs to understand this from airport managers to taxi drivers."

A variety of efforts are already in play to help meet the 2019 targets including national and international promotions, increasing the capacity and professionalism of tourism human resources, utilizing digital applications for management and logistics, developing public service campaigns about cleanliness, security, upgrading digital capabilities (with free WiFi, for example, as reported by Gapura Bali in November 2018), and improving public services at airports and other strategic places.

In addition, the local government is also looking at the development of 'smart city' destinations, village tourism, digital tourism, cultural tourism and nomadic tourism.

Sources: Nusa Bali, Prima UK, Gapura Bali

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