As Aussies call for Bali boycott, China quietly steals our crown

News release

Psst...want to know a secret? Last February, for the first time ever, more Chinese visited Bali than Australians.

And as Australian social media goes into 'overdrive' calling for a widespread 'Bali Boycott' in protest at the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, China is sending a 'tsunami of tourists' around the world; and Bali is next.

"China is currently redefining travel all over the World", said Ross Taylor, President of the Perth-based Indonesia Institute (Inc). Ask anyone who has been to Europe this year and stood in awe in Venice's St Mark's Square; not so much in awe of the marvelous history in this beautiful city, but rather the number of visitors from China."

Mr Taylor said that the number of Chinese people now travelling is re-defining tourism everywhere, including Bali.

"Whilst we, here in Australia, are calling for a Bali Boycott, Indonesian authorities are asking how Bali will cope with the sheer volume of Chinese tourists heading their way over the next few years."

In February 2015, 27.7% of all overseas arrivals were from China, and 21.1% from Australia.

In 2014, Australians travelling to Bali just missed the 'magic million' mark with 991,000 arrivals into Bali, whilst Chinese arrivals grew an astonishing 49.5% TO 586,000.

"Officials expect this figure to grow to over one million arrivals from China by 2016", said Mr Taylor, "and far exceeding any drop-off in Australian visitors as a result of the proposed boycott."

Governor of Bali, Made Mangku Pastika, was even more optimistic about attracting Chinese tourists saying that, "...we hope the figure increases to one million this year (2015).”

Mr Taylor said Australia still remained a very important market for Bali, and whilst some Indonesian officials in Jakarta may applaud the boycott call, citing the end of drunken Aussie yobboes a blessing, the Balinese authorities still regard Australia as a key market.

"But if we think a boycott will harm Bali in the medium-to-longer term, we may have to think again. Thanks to the huge number of people with discretionary incomes in both China and Indonesia - with a combined population of over 1.45 billion people - Australians simply cannot expect to retain its crown as Bali's best customer for much longer. "

"Mr Taylor said that if Australians do carry out the boycott threat.... "we need to understand that whilst the impact on Australian families wanting a cheap holiday will be huge, the economic effect on Bali over the longer term will be minimal; because the Chinese tourists will be sleeping in 'our' beds."