BALI

Bali is an island and the smallest province of Indonesia.
It is located between Java to the west and Lombok to the east, and has its capital of Denpasar at the southern part of the island.

History

Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people who migrated originally from Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are thus closely related to the people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Oceania.

The first European contact with Bali is thought to have been made in 1585 when a Portuguese ship foundered off the Bukit Peninsula and left a few Portuguese in the service of Dewa Agung.

Imperial Japan occupied Bali during World War II.

The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia.

A bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely affected tourism, bringing much economic hardship to the island.

Economy

Three decades ago, the Balinese economy was largely agriculture-based in terms of both output and employment. Tourism is now the largest single industry in terms of income, and as a result, Bali is one of Indonesia's wealthiest regions. About 80% of Bali's economy depends on tourism.

Tourism

• Bali received the Best Island award from Travel and Leisure in 2010.
• Bali reported that it has 2.88 million foreign tourists and 5 million domestic tourists in 2012, marginally surpassing the expectations of 2.8 million foreign tourists.
• 34.39% percent of tourists are upper-middle class with spending between $1,286 to $5,592 and dominated by Australia, France, China, Germany and the US
• The tourism industry is primarily focused in the south, while significant in the other parts of the island as well.

Sports

Bali was the host of 2008 Asian Beach Games.[72] It was the second time Indonesia hosted an Asia-level multi-sport event, after Jakarta held the 1962 Asian Games.