The demand for winter tours to Bali is still lower than last year. According to tour operators, tourists are waiting - both for a more favorable exchange rate and last minute offers closer to departure dates.
According to Indonesian National Tourist Office in Russia (VITO Russia), for the first 9 months of 2018 Indonesia hosted almost 91.5 thousand tourists from the Russian Federation (+ 5.33% compared to the same period last year). As always, the majority of Russian tourists go to Bali: during the reporting period 80.8 thousand Russians visited the island (88% of the total Russian tourist traffic to Indonesia).
It is noted, that the Indonesian statistics for 9 months does not take into account the direct transportation to Bali, which started from the end of October from Moscow. According to experts, thanks to the new route of Rossia airline, this winter season 35,000 seats appeared in Bali, which expands the audience of the destination by regional tourists, who find it convenient to make a change in Moscow.
“In general, interest in direct flights to Denpasar is noticeable. This flight also added the opportunity for tourists from the regions to book tours with a change in Moscow. Moreover, the bookings with a change in Singapore or Doha did not decrease”, says Marina Makarkova, the head of public relations department of Coral Travel tour operator.
Philip Obruchev-Mironov, the representative of Intourist tour operator, agrees with this assessment. “Tourists from the regions now have just one change in Moscow - after 12 hours they are already in the southern hemisphere. We feel an increase in bookings of the destination from the regions”, he said.
In general, the preferences of Russian tourists, traveling to Bali, have not changed. In the top demand are the resorts such as Nusa Dua and Jimbaran.