September's foreign arrivals to Bali rose year on year despite a monthly decline

In brief: Figures presented by BPS Bali on 2 November show 650,169 direct foreign-tourist arrivals in September 2026. That is an improvement over September 2025, although the cumulative total for the first nine months of the year remains lower than last year's.

Three stronger months have not closed the nine-month gap

Bali counted 5,237,128 direct arrivals from abroad between January and September 2026, according to the provincial office of Statistics Indonesia (BPS). The total was 1.15% below the equivalent period of 2025, even though each month in the third quarter — July, August and September — recorded more arrivals than the same month a year earlier.

The latest quarter improved the year-on-year visitor comparison without recovering all of the shortfall from earlier months. Whether the full-year total exceeds 2025 will depend on October through December. September supplies evidence of a recent improvement, while the nine-month total still records the earlier weakness.

September arrivals: 650,169, led by Australian visitors

The month brought 650,169 foreign-tourist arrivals, compared with 685,994 in August and 697,809 in July. The September-to-August decline was 5.22%. Against September 2025, when BPS recorded 635,149 arrivals, the latest figure was 2.36% higher. The agency's Bali chief described the easing after July as a recurring seasonal pattern also seen in 2024 and 2025.

Australian passport holders accounted for 165,100 September visits. China contributed 54,284, followed by India with 41,645, Japan with 30,322 and France with 28,405. Nearly every recorded arrival used I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport: 650,134 came by air and 35 through sea entry points.

The statistics count arrival events. They do not identify distinct individuals or establish how long each traveller stayed, including the nights spent in a particular part of Bali.

Reading the figures alongside accommodation demand

For a short-stay property owner, an island-wide arrival total may help explain broad seasonal conditions. It cannot tell whether a villa in Ubud, an apartment in South Bali or a guesthouse in another district achieved a higher occupancy rate, charged more per night or earned a better net return. Visitors also choose among different forms of accommodation, and arrival totals provide no breakdown of their spending on private rentals.

Hotel statistics give a separate perspective, with their own boundaries. BPS figures reported for September put room occupancy at 66.42% in Bali's star-rated hotels and 41.19% in non-star hotels and other accommodation. Neither percentage should be assigned to an individual holiday home: the underlying categories, available room stock and reporting methods differ.

For a rental investment, September can be compared with earlier Septembers using actual booked nights, average realised rates, commissions and operating costs. The booking history supplies the property’s result. Arrivals then help place it in the wider seasonal context without being used as a proxy for rental profitability.