DENPASAR, BALIPOST.com — Based on the data from the Central Statistics Agency, the number of domestic flight departures from Ngurah Rai Airport is always lower every month in 2019 compared to each month in previous years.
Lastly in April 2019, the number of domestic flights reached 3,327. This figure is lower than the previous year in April 2018 reaching 3,700 flights. Likewise, the figures in March and February 2019 are lower than in March and February 2018. “Probably, this is the impact of the high ticket prices widely at issue. Expensive price of the ticket causes domestic flights to drop relatively from month to month in 2019,” said Adi Nugroho, Head of the Bali Central Statistics Agency (BPS) at the official release on Monday (Jun. 10).
But apparently, this decrease did not only happen to domestic flights, but also to international flights. The data on the number of international flights obtained in April 2019 are also lower than April 2018, reaching 2,980 while in April 2019 amounted to 2,947. This lower number has already begun from February and March.
The data indicate that even though the price of airline tickets does not rise as on domestic flights, international flights also experience a decline in departures and arrivals. “If it is associated with foreign tourist visits, we also note that there has been a decline that lasted several months when compared to foreign tourist visits in the previous year,” he added.
Adi added the decline can be caused by the declining level of the world’s economy so that tourists from all corners of the world also declined. The decline in tourist visits can also happen due to the decreasing attraction of Bali so that people tend to move to other destinations.
According to him, this decline needs to be scrutinized and reviewed and immediately found out the causes in order to find the ways to restore the level of tourist arrivals. Moreover, if the study found that many tourists showed decreasing interest in Bali, this will be something that had to be addressed well to restore Bali’s tourist attraction and seize foreign tourist market.
Adi also revealed the decline in the number of flights and the visit was not in line with the level of national tourist arrivals that did not experience a decline in visits. “Nationally, the tourist visit is relatively better, while Bali seems to be starting to go bad. There are indications if the program of 10 New Bali destinations have been working and produced something so that travelers switched to the destinations.
According to him, Bali is facing a different new situation within the past 2-3 years. “On that account, it is required an in-depth study on what are actually different from 2-3 years ago so as to provide less encouraging indicators. We must immediately know what it is and must be able to adjust immediately. Having been known, we can find ways to restore the level of visits,” he explained.
Necessarily the indications having taken place for 3-4 months are recorded as serious conditions so that the study must be conducted immediately. (Citta Maya/balipost)
