Wild amount of tourists expected to holiday in Bali over Christmas and New Year
Bali continues to grow in popularity with an insane amount of tourists and locals expected to flock to the Island of the Gods.
Christmas is a big deal on the Island of the Gods with a wild amount of both tourists and locals expected to visit.
In December last year, more than one million tourists visited Bali — and even more are expected this year, as Aussies flock to the island ahead of Christmas and New Year.
The Indonesian government said on Monday that it was expecting a more than 100 per cent increase in the number of people travelling nationwide during those days.
Bali topped the most popular destination for end-of-year travel plans among Aussies, according to figures released by Expedia.
Denpasar in Indonesia — which houses I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, the main airport in Bali — came first, followed by Bangkok and Singapore, Phuket, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur also making an appearance.
According to online travel agent Webjet, flights to Bali have increased 29 per cent since 2022.
The figures compare travel periods from December 18, 2022 and January 8, 2023 to December 18, 2023 and January 8, 2024.
“Bali has always been a favourite holiday destination for Aussies and our data consistently supports this, with Bali coming in as the top destination for Aussies travellers throughout the year,” Expedia Australia managing director Daniel Finch recently told news.com.au.
In May alone, almost 110,000 Australian tourists landed at Denpasar, while that figure increased to 120,000 in August, making Aussies the most frequent international visitors to the island.
And it’s not just overseas travellers moving around the islands over the festive period. A huge number of locals will also be hopping from island to island.
According to the country’s Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, around 107 million people will travel across cities, provinces or islands — or 39.83 per cent of the total national population this Christmas holiday.
“So, the increase is very significant, above 100 per cent,” Mr Sumadi said in a statement, according to local reports.
“Most of them are predicted to travel to tourist sites for vacations. The rest is for exodus, or going to their hometowns, which also have tourist destinations, to celebrate Christmas.”
He added that the most popular provinces during the festive season include East Java, Central Java, West Java, North Sumatra and Yogyakarta.
“In last year’s Christmas holiday it was predicted that 44.17 million people would move, while this year it is predicted that it will be 107.63 million people. So the increase is very significant above 100 per cent (143.65 per cent),” Mr Sumadi said, according to The Bali Sun.
And given the huge amount of movements expected between tourists and locals, Mr Sumadi said the government was preparing measures to minimise traffic congestion, in co-ordination with the local government and traffic police.
Meanwhile, tourism leaders from hotspots such as Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Canggu and Ubud in Bali have continued to raise concerns over traffic congestion.
They are reportedly working to establish new ways to manage traffic in the busy tourist areas to help ease congestion — and in turn accidents.
It comes as a combination of poor road conditions and street lighting, roaming cattle and drivers not obeying traffic laws, has lead to a recent spate of serious collisions.
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