Tourist arrivals in Aceh up 32 pct in February

 A total of 1,106 foreign tourists visited Aceh province in February 2013, jumping 32 percent from 832 a month earlier, a spokesman said.

"The increase in the number of tourist arrivals in Aceh was among others influenced by a number of events held in that month," head of the Aceh provincial statistics office Hermanto said here on Tuesday.

He said 726 of the 1,106 tourists came from Malaysia, making it the largest source of tourist arrivals in the province.

The number of tourists from Australia was 43, France 40, Britain 38, the United States 32, Germany 31, China 30, Canada 19, Thailand 17, and Finland 13, he said. 

Meanwhile, the number of tourists from other countries was 147.

The tourist arrivals in February brought the number of foreigners visiting Aceh in the first two months of 2013 to 1,938, down 13 percent from the same period last year.

He said the increase in the number of tourist arrivals in Indonesia`s westernmost province would be able to have a positive impact on the economic growth.

He suggested that both the provincial and district/municipal governments in Aceh step up promotion and improve a number of sectors in order to attract more foreign tourists. (Antara)