BALI, Indonesia, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's tourist attraction Bali on Thursday hosted a Spring Festival celebration for Chinese tourists.
Deputy Tourism Minister for International Marketing Development I Gde Pitana said that the event was very important as it occurred after Bali saw sharp arrival drop of Chinese tourists, who had been dominating arrivals of foreign tourists in the Indonesia's ultimate destination prior to the volcano event.
"Now they come again to Bali. It can be understood that the travel warnings once issued by several countries related to the volcano event were not valid anymore. So, the Spring Festival celebration this year has a very deep meaning," Pitana said.
Pitana added that Bali received over 2 million Chinese tourists throughout last year, 36 percent higher than a year earlier.
Hundreds of Chinese tourists came to the hotel with their loved ones to attend a gala dinner, which was part of the two-day celebration event.
Pitana said that China is an essential market to Indonesia as the nation saw increasingly enormous number of tourists from China, particularly in Bali, in recent years.
He encouraged Chinese tourists to explore Indonesia's other destinations besides Bali, which also offer intense natural beauties and unique traditional cultural attractions.
Indonesian government now is developing new tourist destinations from western to eastern tips of the nation, highly expected to par with Bali in attracting foreign visitors.
Those destinations include Lake Toba, Batam, Bintan, Borobudur Temple, Labuan Bajo, Lombok, Bunaken, Wakatobi and Raja Ampat.
Organizer of the Bali Spring Festival celebration Heri Sudiarto said that more than 1,000 Chinese tourists were expected to attend the two-day event.
"This year, the celebration concept was to make them feel like home even though they celebrate the Spring Festival in a foreign country. We provide gala dinner for them and their families and loved ones before they observe the peak of the festival in the next day," he said.