Bali’s immigration service reported that from January to April 2026 the number of foreign tourists increased by 10% compared with the same period last year. Over four months, more than 4.5 million people passed through Ngurah Rai Airport, including around 4 million foreigners.
The head of the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office, Bugie Kurniawan, acknowledged that the international arrivals area is already struggling to cope with this volume. At the moment, passengers have to make their way through a maze of Visa on Arrival counters, quarantine checks and online form stations even before reaching immigration. All of this slows the flow and creates congestion right in the middle of the terminal.
The airport plans to change the passenger flow layout and clear the central part of the arrivals area. All additional counters are to be moved to the side to make border control quicker and simpler.
At the same time, the authorities continue to promote autogates — automated passport control gates. However, they will still only be available to holders of electronic passports with a chip.
Interestingly, passenger numbers at the start of this year grew not because of Australians, as had been the case before. For the first time in a long while, they lost the top spot for arrivals to visitors from Malaysia. According to Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency (BPS), in March 2026 the country welcomed 186.5 thousand tourists from Malaysia. That is 17.1% of all foreign tourist arrivals. Australia came second with 130.7 thousand tourists, and Singapore third with 102.8 thousand.
At the same time, Bali remains the main destination for many other markets. The number of tourists from India is growing particularly fast. From January to March, 157.1 thousand Indian tourists visited Indonesia — 3.9% more than a year earlier. In March alone, 53.8 thousand tourists from India arrived in the country, and nearly 79% of them flew in via Ngurah Rai Airport.
In total, from January to March 2026, 3.44 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia. That is 8.6% more than a year earlier. In March alone, the country received 1.09 million foreign visitors. A steady flow of tourists from Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Japan, China and India is helping the country move towards its target of 13–15 million tourists a year.
On average, foreign tourists spend about $1,345 per trip in Indonesia and stay in the country for 10 nights.
Sources: Detik Travel, Info Nasional.
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