Indonesia continues experiencing growth in total arrivals and is likely to reach over eight million international tourists until year end…
Growth in total foreign arrivals continues to progress to Indonesia, albeit at a slower pace. According to Indonesia Central Statistics Agency BPS, total arrivals of foreigners increased by 2.96% in April reaching 626,100 travellers compared to 609,093 for the same period of last year. “The interest of foreign tourists [to visit Indonesia] keeps growing from time to time, reflected by the increase of foreign tourist arrival through the country’s main gateway for tourist arrival,” said BPS head Suryamin.
Since the beginning of 2012, the total number of foreign tourists rose by 8.9% during the four first months of the year to reach a total of 2.53 million travellers compared to 2.32 million during the same period of 2011. The fastest growth in foreign arrivals was recorded at Bandung International Airport, up by 24.62%, followed by Medan (North Sumatra) with 15.42% and Makassar (South Sulawesi) with 12.44 %. Five other international gateways suffered however a decline, including a drop of 2.3% at Solo international airport.
The majority of foreign tourists still go to Bali. The “Island of the Gods” recorded since the beginning of the year 904,495 tourists, a market share of 37.75% over total arrivals to the archipelago. Bali market was stimulated by the current boom of Chinese travellers. From January to April, China incoming grew by 74.6% to reach 124,293 visitors.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
