Indonesia Tourism Records Faster Growth Than Other SEA Countries

Source: Kemenpar

Indonesia's tourism sector has grown significantly in the first quarter, much faster compared with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

In January-April, 5.79 million foreign visits were recorded in Singapore — a 4.4 percent increase from 2016 — the Business Times said on its website on June 24.

Singapore had 1.1 million Chinese visitors and 968,000 Indonesian. The visits from Indonesia, however, are expected to decline with the strengthening of the Singapore dollar. "The strengthening of the dollar is expected to last until the end of the year," Cushman & Wakefield research director Christine Li said in a statement on Tuesday (04/07).

The slow growth has also affected Singapore's hotel industry.

The growth in Malaysia has been even slower. Xinhua News Agency reported on June 8 that the number of tourists visiting Indonesia's neighbor dropped by 0.5 percent.
Thailand has also experienced a drop in the number of visits, with 12.02 million foreigners arriving to the country in the first four months, up 2.91 percent from the same period last year, TTR Weekly reported in the end of May.

According to data data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia recorded a 19.34 increase in the number of visits between January and April.
In the first quarter, 4.2 million foreign tourists visited the country, with 1.14 million in April alone — 26.75 percent up from April 2016. (JakartaGlobe)