Bali has been flooded with domestic visitors during the Idul Fitri holiday, locally known as Lebaran, as travelers from Surabaya, Malang, Yogyakarta and Jakarta flocked to the island's renowned tourist attractions.
Budget accommodation including one and two-star hotels in downtown Denpasar, Kuta and Tuban has been the preferred destination of domestic visitors. However, luxurious hotels in Nusa Dua and Jimbaran have also had a huge share of the holiday surge.
"All hotels, from budget to upmarket, are flooded with domestic visitors," said Perry Markus, the secretary-general of the Bali branch of the Indonesia Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI).
He said that occupancy rates for hotels in those areas had reached 100 percent during the holiday period.
"The hotels in those areas were so full that a large number of visitors had to find accommodation elsewhere," he said.
Meanwhile, occupancy rates in Seminyak and Sanur reached 90 percent. The island has a total of 50,000 available hotel rooms, 80 percent of which are located in tourist destinations in the southern part of Bali. The occupancy rate is expected to start dropping on Sept. 28, when most domestic visitors return to their respective cities.
"Most of the domestic visitors are staying in southern Bali and only a small number of them venture to other parts of the island," he said.
During their stay on the island, domestic tourists visited various popular tourist attractions, such as the world renowned Kuta Beach. The number of tourists visiting the beach increased four-fold during the holiday.
"I could only say there are thousands and thousands of tourists visiting this beach during the holiday. The number increases significantly during the late afternoon as the tourists try to catch the beach's majestic sunset," said a member of the Kuta Beach Task Force, I Made Mandra.
Lifeguards have been working hard to cope with the number of visitors. "Fortunately, during this holiday period, the waves and currents of the beach are not too strong," said lifeguard Ketut Sandi.
- JP/ Ni Komang Erviani
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