Bali hotels fully booked

Bali hotels fully booked

DENPASAR (JP): Hotels in Bali have been fully booked by local and foreign tourists for the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays.

"Several days ahead of Christmas and New Year, tourism in Bali will be booming," Tommy Raka, chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association, told Antara in Kuta, Bali.

"All the rooms in 25 big hotels in the island province have been fully booked by local and foreign travel bureaus," he said yesterday, adding that small hotels will also benefit from the tourism boom.

Room reservation rates have been on the rise since early this month, leading to an average occupancy rate of 79 percent for the year, he said.

Official figures show that this year the number of hotel rooms in Bali has reached 30,005, consisting of 14,387 rooms in 88 star-rated hotels, 13,458 rooms in 742 medium-size hotels and 2,160 rooms in 516 small hotels.

In 1994, the number of foreign tourists visiting the island reached 1,032,476, compared to 885,516 in 1993. (13)