1.4 million foreign tourists visit Bali in the first quarter of 2026
Denpasar (ANTARA) - Bali’s Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded 1.4 million foreign tourists visiting Bali during the first quarter of 2026, or January to March.
“Cumulatively from January to March, the number of foreign tourists arriving directly in Bali has reached more than 1.4 million or 1,466,546 visits,” said the Head of BPS Bali, Agus Gede Hendrayana Hermawan.
Agus Gede, in Denpasar on Tuesday, stated that this figure represents an increase compared to the first quarter of 2025, which had 1,451,445 foreign tourist visits.
“So compared to January-March 2025, the number of visits in January-March 2026 is still recorded as increasing by 1.04 percent,” he said.
By nationality, BPS Bali found that during the first three months of 2026, Australian tourists dominated with 354,079 visits, up 5.76 percent from January-March 2025.
Other nationalities include China, which increased by 20.22 percent with 157,242 visits; India, which declined by 0.25 percent with 116,943 visitors; South Korea, down 13.32 percent with 68,873 visits; and the UK, down 4.76 percent with 63,364 visits.
Although the January-March 2026 period compared to the previous year shows a positive trend, Agus Gede revealed that foreign tourist visits month-to-month actually experienced a decline.
In March 2026, the number of direct foreign tourist arrivals in Bali was 472,070 visits, recorded as down 4.11 percent from February.
“There is a slight difference in patterns over the last three years; in 2024, it tended to continuously increase from January to February to March, in 2025 it fluctuated from January then dropped in February and rose again in March, but in 2026 the trend is declining from January to February to March. Hopefully, there will be an increase in the following months and the geopolitical situation returns to normal,” said Agus Gede.
BPS Bali noted several events in March 2026 related to tourism visits, such as holiday breaks and flight cancellations due to conflict in the Middle East.
Fortunately, in that month, a luxury cruise ship docked at Benoa Port, boosting foreign tourist visits.
In March 2026 alone, BPS Bali recorded the highest number of foreign tourists coming to Bali from Australia with 119,777 visits, up 20.35 percent compared to February, followed by India with 42,460 visits, up 14.35 percent.
“Then from China, 32,497 visits, which declined 58.79 percent; the decline is quite high, possibly because February had the Chinese New Year celebration, so Chinese tourist arrivals were relatively high, and then returned to normal in March,” he said.
Next, UK tourists increased by 25.32 percent or 24,206 visits, and the United States increased by 37.05 percent with 23,003 visits.
“So the proportion from Australia is very dominant at 25.37 percent, or more than a quarter of foreign tourists coming to Bali in the previous March were from Australia,” said Agus Gede.