Indonesia tourism grows 1.53 percent

Indonesia`s tourism grew 1.35 percent from January to April 2009 with foreign tourist arrivals reaching 1.89 million, up 28,570 from around 1.86 million recorded in the same period last year.

"Despite current global economic crisis our tourism sector is not affected much particularly with regard to tourist arrivals," the director general of marketing of the ministry of tourism and culture, Sapta Nirwandar, said here on Saturday.

He said the growth in the first four months increased optimism that the target of 6.5 million foreign tourist arrivals in the 2009 Visit Indonesia Year would be met. Last year the number of foreign tourist arrivals in the country reached 6.4 millions.

He said the government had taken various promotion and strategic efforts such as intensifying sales missions, sales of cheap tourism packages, promotions in print and electronic media and increasing family trip tourism programs.

"We should be grateful that tourism industry in Indonesia still grew despite current global economic crisis," he said.

He said the condition was not like in neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Thailand or Japan where the growth was negative in the period.