9.44 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia in 2014

As many as 9.44 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia in the January-December 2014 period, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) reported.

"Cumulatively, the number of foreign tourists that visited the country in 2014 reached 9.44 million, which is an increase of 7.19 percent from the 8.32 million recorded in 2013," Head of the BPS, Suryamin, told the press here on Monday.

In December alone, some 915.3 thousand foreign tourists visited Indonesia. This was a 19.74 percent rise from that in November, and 6.35 percent year-on-year surge from the 860.7 thousand tourists in December 2013.

Furthermore, a significant increase of 73.06 percent was recorded in the number of tourist arrivals at Lombok International Airport (BIL), West Nusa Tenggara province.

The rise at Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, was 15.11 percent, followed by Minangkabau International Airport in West Sumatra at 13.73 percent.

"The lowest surge was at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, at just 0.26 percent," Suryamin stated.

Moreover, the BPS recorded an average hotel occupancy rate of 50.13 percent in star-rated hotels in the 27 Indonesian provinces in December 2014, a 5.60 percent fall from the 55.73 percent recorded in December 2013.

The hotel occupancy rate in November 2014 also showed a decrease of 4.32 percent from that in the same month the previous year.

Also, the average stay of foreign tourists in Indonesian hotels was recorded at 1.91 days in December 2014, the same as that in December 2013. (Antara)