Bali airport arrivals rose year on year in Badung's September count

In brief: Badung's tourism office reported 671,014 international arrivals for September 2026, 2.61% more than a year earlier and 5.06% fewer than in August. The figures describe arrivals through Bali's main airport, not hotel occupancy or the number of visitors who stayed in Badung Regency.

The figures were reported by BaliPost on 9 October, citing Badung Tourism Office head Anak Agung Putri Mas Agung. They are based on border-crossing records at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport. As the airport is the gateway to destinations across Bali, its arrival count does not establish where passengers subsequently stayed.

A stronger September than last year, but quieter than August

The tourism office put September arrivals at 671,014, against 653,955 in September 2025. Its August 2026 comparison figure was 706,796, leaving a month-on-month fall of 35,782 arrivals, or 5.06%.

The office attributed some of the monthly decline to seasonal travel patterns, including the end of summer holiday periods in parts of Europe. That is its explanation of the movement, not a quantified breakdown of the causes.

The nine-month picture is less positive than September alone suggests. The office reported 5,406,253 arrivals in January–September 2026, down 0.99% from the same period in 2025, although 16.45% above the corresponding pre-pandemic period in 2019. Its third-quarter total was 2,098,478, an increase of 1.08% year on year.

India gained ground while Australia remained the largest market

Australians accounted for 169,782 arrivals in September, approximately 25.3% of the total. China followed with 56,349, a 5.76% decline from August. India moved into third place with 43,027 arrivals, up 19.44% month on month.

That shift is relevant to accommodation operators who monitor where their guests come from. It does not, by itself, reveal whether Indian visitors booked villas, hotels or other accommodation, nor which parts of Bali benefited from the increase.

Why airport traffic is not an occupancy forecast

An airport tally cannot tell a rental owner how many nights were sold, what guests paid, or how much revenue remained after expenses. A year-on-year increase in arrivals should therefore not be used as a matching forecast for villa bookings or rental income. Property-level results also depend on location, length of stay, pricing and the kind of travellers a business serves.

There is a second caution when comparing datasets. Statistics Indonesia's Bali provincial office, BPS, published 685,994 direct foreign visits for August 2026 in its 1 October tourism release. Badung's tourism office used an August figure of 706,796 in its September comparison. The two published series should be kept separate unless their definitions and compilation methods have been reconciled. The Bali-wide BPS report for September was not the source of Badung's October announcement.

• BPS-Statistics Indonesia, Bali Province, “Tourism Overview of Bali Province, August 2026” — 1 October 2026.