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Image: Kuta Beach. Credit: Balibeach.com

Tourists are flocking to Bali this week from far and wide, but mainly from all points of the Indonesian archipelago. According to the Corporate Secretary of PT Angkasa Pura I, Israwadi, there was a large increase in passengers at Bali airport at the beginning of the Lebaran holidays.

“I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport had 73,349 passengers coming and going on H-1 or June 16, an increase of 11.43 percent compared with 2017,” said Israwadi.

He also said an influence on the greater number of travelers was the national Lebaran holidays coinciding with the start of school Summer vacations this year. “Bali is still one of the most favorite tourism destinations when there is a long vacation,” he said to bisnis.com.

If it was accumulated from H-8 until H-2 of Lebaran, the amount of the passengers on I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport reached 696,731 passengers, or an increase of 11 percent from the year before.

Meanwhile, Kuta Beach has been busy with local and foreign tourists. The amount of the visitors on Kuta Beach during Lebaran reached four times the normal day according to chief of Kuta beach lifesavers, Dewa Dwilaksana.

He mentioned that the peak occurred on the Idul Fitri holidays. Dewa and his team have prioritized visitor safety, although there was no extra preparations. “I just ask the visitors to obey the rules,” he said to balipost.com.

Gianyar has also been feeling the weight of local and foreign tourists. The Head of Gianyar District Regional Tourism Board (Disparda), A.A. Bagus Ari Brahmanta, said to balipost.com on Sunday that the amount of the tourists have increased dramatically in this period. “The increase percentage is significant at around 60-70 percent,” he said.

He also said that visitors were dominated by Chinese tourists. “They tend to go to recreational areas like Bali Zoo,” he said.  Meanwhile, Gianyar Polres Vice Commissioner I Nengah Sidarta, said “We have to prevent crime as early as possible,” he said, “So we have assigned 100 extra officers in the area.”

The long holidays have been a blessing to hotels in the Kuta, Legian and Seminyak areas which are now enjoying an occupancy of around 90 percent. Chairman of Kuta Executive Club Kahar Salamun said, Lebaran this year is more crowded than the previous year. Because this year’s Lebaran holiday is longer.

The higher occupancy is not only due to the Lebaran holidays, but also due to it now being close to the July – August peak season. Tourists from Australia and Europe are now arriving for vacations in Bali.

“Our occupancy started to go up on June 11. Today the occupancy is still good, but by tomorrow it has already started to fall. Because the offices start to open again tomorrow and a lot of people are going back to work,” he said on Monday.