DENPASAR. Bali is seeing an increasing number of foreign tourists visiting areas outside the well-known south, a ministry official said.

Firmansyah Rahim, the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry’s director general for site development, said in Denpasar that the ministry had run persistent promotions to entice foreign travelers to visit other parts of the province to distribute development more evenly.

 “The promotions are showing results. This is in accordance with improvements to tourist sites outside southern Bali as well,” Firmansyah said Monday. “Tourist villages are also starting to provide accommodation services for travelers,” he added.

Records, Firmansyah said, showed that tourists stayed for a couple of days in those areas.

Separately, Bali Tourism Agency head Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu, confirmed the statement, saying these tourists were repeat travelers from existing markets, such as the US and Europe.

He said repeat travelers knew Bali well and wanted to explore the beauty of other parts of the island.

Subhiksu said that tourists tended to flock to southern Bali — such as Kuta, Nusa Dua and Seminyak — due to the proximity to Ngurah Rai International Airport and the variety of accommodation options available.

Moreover, access to areas outside southern Bali was less convenient and poorly maintained.

Subhiksu said tourists used to opt for short visits to less-famous sites. Nowadays, he said, many preferred longer tours and stayed in regencies like Buleleng, Tabanan and Karangasem.

Data from October 2013 showed that Nusa Dua and Kuta still dominated the market with an occupancy rate of around 70 percent, and average length of stay of four to six days.

Meanwhile in Tabanan, the occupancy rate reached 68 percent with an average stay of 2.96 days, while in Karangasem occupancy was 38.77 percent with stays of 3.74 days.

In Buleleng, occupancy was 41.54 percent with average stays of 1.12 days. These figures exclude records from villas and rented houses, and accommodation in tourism villages.

Subhiksu expected further studies to see the role of tourism villages in Bali’s tourist industry as a whole.

Sugeng Supriyanto, a travel agent with customers mainly from the US and Europe, said his clients were starting to prefer areas outside southern Bali. Besides opting for high-class hotels in Ubud, Karangasem or Buleleng, many also chose tourism villages.

“Munduk and Pemuteran villages in Buleleng are getting attention, but Ubud is still ahead,” he said. (Wasti Atmodjo)

Editor: Asnil Amri