[Nulgath]

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya has announced that in an effort to boost tourist arrivals during the year-end holiday season, discounts of up to 50 percent would be offered to tourists visiting Bali.

“Discounts of between 40 to 50 percent will be offered,” Arief said in Denpasar on Monday after attending a meeting with Bali tourism stakeholders.

The discount policy is part of an effort to boost tourist arrivals to Bali, particularly during the New Year's Eye festivities, after foreign and domestic tourists have shown reluctance to visit the resort island in light of the volcanic activity of Mount Agung.

The discounts would be given to both domestic and foreign tourists, said Arief, adding that the government allocated Rp 100 billion (US$7 million) to intensify the promotion of the Bali tourism industry.

This year, the government targeted 6 million foreign tourist arrivals to Bali, however Arief projected that figure would only reach 5.5 million because of the ongoing volcanic activity.

He said the number of tourist arrivals had reached 5 million as of October.

Next year, he added, the government targeted 7 million foreign tourist arrivals to Bali.