Jakarta. Bali Governor I Wayan Koster recently attributed the decline in the year-end domestic travelers to a shortage of planes.

Koster said that some planes had to undergo their regular maintenance work, thereby prompting Indonesian airlines to operate at a smaller capacity during the year-end holidays. The flag carrier Garuda Indonesia currently only has 9 out of 11 planes serving the Bali route, according to data run by the local airport authorities. Its low-cost subsidiary Citilink used to fly 11 Bali-bound aircraft, but nearly half of them are undergoing maintenance. Citilink now only has 6 active planes flying to Bali. 

“And so, there are fewer flights to Bali, but they are always fully booked. That’s why Bali vacationers struggle to find tickets,” Koster was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara over the weekend. 

According to Koster, domestic tourists are now leaning more towards traveling in Java following improvements in the tollway infrastructure.

Bali reported to have amassed 9.2 million domestic tourists so far this year as of Dec. 26, down from 10.1 million travelers recorded in the same period in 2024. The government expects this number to reach 9.4 million people by the end of 2025. 

A few days ago, Tourism Minister Widiyanti Putri Wardhana said that bad weather had caused domestic travelers to scrap Bali travel plans.

“We do admit that Bali is seeing fewer domestic tourists this holiday season. Maybe it’s because of the bad weather. That’s why they prefer to travel in Java,” Widiyanti said.

According to data from airport operator Angkasa Pura, Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport had served 811,170 passengers between Dec. 15 and 26. Some 327,394 individuals had traveled on domestic routes, while 483,776 others were on international routes. This marked a 2.8 percent drop compared to the same period last year, which totaled 834,207 passengers.

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