Bali will continue to rely on China as one of its top tourist sources, which has long enabled the Indonesian resort island to consistently earn recognition as one of the world’s most captivating destinations for travelers, tourism industry leaders said.  

The holiday hot spot received “The Best Island” Readers’ Choice Award 2025 from DestinAsian magazine on March 7. It was collected by Indonesia’s Deputy Minister of Tourism Ni Luh Puspa in Jimbaran, south of Bali’s provincial capital Denpasar.

In recent years, Bali has won several prestigious global awards for being one of the most desirable destinations worldwide. The World Travel Awards 2022 acknowledged Bali as both “Asia’s Most Romantic Destination” and “Asia’s Leading Wedding Destination”.

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China has been one of Bali’s biggest tourist sources over the past decade. According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), 448,000 Chinese tourists visited Bali last year, ranking fourth below India, Singapore, and Australia.

Chinese visitors to Bali had ranked second or third over the past decade before Indian visitors rose in number with the launch of regular India-Bali direct flights in December 2023.  

Bali’s tourist industry leaders had long expected more direct flights from China to the island and other tourist destinations in the world’s largest archipelago.

“Other than more promotions, increasing direct flights (from China) to Bali will push up the number of Chinese tourists,” Paul Edmundus Talo, chairman of Indonesia Inbound Tour Operators Association, said.

Currently, Chinese and Indonesian airlines serve Bali-China routes. They include Chinese-owned China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines plus Indonesia-owned Lion Air, Citilink, and Garuda Indonesia. Indonesia’s TransNusa will begin serving Bali-China routes next month.      

Many locals appreciate Chinese visitors who mostly come in groups and respect local habits and regulations, said Talo, who is also the founder and CEO of PT Floressa Bali Tours.

However, he said too few tourists from China and other countries have come to tourist destinations outside Bali due to limited promotions. Bali’s foreign tourist visits account for 50 percent of Indonesia’s total.  

Talo said his company only brought Chinese tourists to Labuan Bajo once a year. Located on Flores, a one-hour flight to Bali’s east, Labuan Bajo is the gateway to Komodo National Park on Komodo and other nearby islands, home to the famous Komodo dragons and scuba diving sites.

I Putu Winastra, head of the Bali chapter of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies, said he hopes China and Indonesia can strengthen cooperation between their tourist associations to boost business.

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“Quality Tourism must prepare quality products, and quality products must be made by quality people, and this means that our human resources must be improved,” Winastra said.  

Evita Nursanty, vice-chairwoman of the House of Representatives commission in charge of tourism, urged more support for the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board.

She said tourism laws currently being revised in parliament must retain the board despite the recently introduced sweeping state budget cuts at ministries and state agencies.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.