Nine-month tourist arrivals up 13.5 percent to 3.36 million

The number of tourists arriving in Indonesia rose 13.5 percent to 3.36 million in the first nine months, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday.

The increase was driven by a rise of 33.7 percent to 1.29 million arrivals in the resort island of Bali.

Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport, the second largest entry point, reported 854,492 arrivals, little changed from 854,323 a year ago.

Batam, an industrial island near Singapore, recorded a 5.1 percent increase to 791,571 arrivals.

In September alone, arrivals via the country's 15 entry points dropped to 382,461 from 405,604 in the preceding month.

Data from the Tourism Ministry showed 4.87 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia in 2006, with total spending of 4.45 billion US dollars.