Australia leads Bali visitors as France surpasses India in August
Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA) - The Bali Tourism Office on Thursday stated that France had overtaken India in the number of foreign tourist visits to Bali in August 2026, while Australia remained the island province’s top source of visitors in the same period.
Citing data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in Bali, Tourism Office Head, I Wayan Sumarajaya, said that France ranked third among the island’s top sources of foreign visitors in August 2026, overtaking India with 41,937 tourist arrivals compared with 34,837 from India.
Meanwhile, Australia remained on top with 161,258 tourist arrivals, followed by China in the second spot with 47,613. The United Kingdom was placed fifth with 32,928 arrivals.
Sumarajaya said that summer holidays and extreme heat in France may offer an explanation for the surge of French tourists to Indonesia last August.
“We believe it may be due to the summer holidays in Europe, including France. We also understand that France experienced extreme heat during the period,” he told reporters.
He said French tourists often flocked to popular tourism areas in Bali's Badung District, including Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu, and Ubud regions.
Sumarajaya said that in the January-August 2026 period, Bali has welcomed 4,586,959 foreign tourists. Preliminary data for visits in September 2026 showed an even higher number of 5.2 million.
Meanwhile, the total number of foreign tourists in Bali in August 2026 alone was 685,994, a slight decline of 1.69 percent from the previous month, though increasing by 0.46 percent when compared with August 2025 visits.
"We saw a slight increase when we compared it with 2025 visits. Despite the current global economic and security conditions, we conclude that the number of tourist visits to Bali remains stable," the Tourism Office head said.
With the positive performance on the visits, Sumarajaya is optimistic that his office's ambitious target of 7 million foreign tourists in Bali this year will be reached.
He also appealed for support from industry stakeholders to ensure sustainable tourism and regional economy in Bali.
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Translator: Ni Putu Putri M, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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