Bali remains preferred holiday destination for Australians

DENPASAR (indo.com): The Australian Bureau of Statistics has disclosed recently that Bali remains a Preferred Holiday Destination for Australians, with some 200,000 Aussie travelers expected to visit Bali in 2004.

The Bureau said that in 2003, Bali's popularity was far greater than other Asian holiday destinations, exceeding nearest rival Thailand by more than 45,000 visitors, and Singapore and Malaysia by more than twice this number.

It said that only New Zealand continues to attract more Australian holidaymakers but this won't last for long.

Tourism industry experts from Australia predicted that Bali will again become no.1 international tourism destination for Australians for the year 2004. They said that Bali has bounced straight back and would probably be nominated as top destination in Asia.

This has been seen from the increase in passenger load over the past six months. The best value deals and relentless efforts to revive Bali's tourism by hospitality industry supported by local government have also been cited as contributing factor to the Bali's rebound.

A report said that currently, there are 21 flights per week from six airports in Australia to Denpasar.