Indonesia's Bali sets sights to draw in 2.7 mln foreign tourists

Indonesia's Bali province set sights to draw in 2.7 million foreign tourists by 2011, the Jakarta Post quoted an official as saying on Monday.

"In 2010, we received about 2.5 million foreign visitors, beating last year's target of 2.3 million. This gives us a good reason to believe that we will be able to attract 2.7 million foreign visitors this year," Head of Bali Tourism Agency Ida Bagus Subhiksu said over the weekend.

Subhiksu pointed out two key incidents that helped raise Bali' s profile on the international stage in 2010, namely the release of the film adaptation of Eat, Pray, and Love starring Julia Roberts, which was partly filmed in Bali, and President Obama's visit to Indonesia.

"Both events provided Bali and Indonesia with additional exposure on the global stage. I believe we will reap the fruits of such exposure in the coming months," he added. In 2008, Bali received more than 1.9 million foreign visitors and increased to 2. 2 million the following year.

There has also been a rise in the number of domestic visitors to the island. Nearly 2.9 million Indonesians visited the island in 2008, 3.5 million in 2009 and 3.7 million in 2010.

Source = news.xinhuanet