January-May Tourists Arrivals to Indonesia grows significant 9.86%

During the first 5 months of 2014, the accumulative number of international tourist arrivals to Indonesia grew by a significant 9.96%  compared to the same period in 2013, revealed Indonesia’s Statistics  Bureau (BPS) onj Tuesday, 1^st July 2014. Over 3.7 million visitors entered Indonesia during January through May 2014  compared to 3.36 million arrivals the same period last year.

While, as to the month of  May 2014 only , arrivals increased by 7.37 percent to 752,400 tourists  compared to the same month last year. Whereas, when compared to the previous month of April, the number increased  by 3.58 percent .

Data on foreign visitors arrivals are obtained from the 19 international Airports  and main seaports in Indonesia that serve as gateways to the country , among which are the Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, Soekarno-Hatta Airport near Jakarta, Kualanamu Airport in Medan, and Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung as well as the seaports of Batam and Bintan in the Riau islands.

“The number of international visitors entering Indonesia through Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia’s main tourist gateway, saw couble digit growth of 16.78 percent to 286,000 in May 2014,” stated the Head of Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Suryamin, as quoted from the official BPS Press release.

During the month of May 2014, those holidaying in Bali were dominated by tourists from Malaysia (16.82%), Singapore (15.71%), Australia (12.13%), the People’s Republic of China (8.39%), and Japan (4.5%)

Last year 2013 Indonesia received a total of  8.8 million tourists, staying 7.65 nights in the country. Total receipts are estimated at US$ 10.054 billion , an increase of 10.23% compared to  2012. 

While for 2014 the country targets to welcome 9.6 million international arrivals.  To reach this target Indonesia has participated in large tourist shows asuch as the ITB in Berlin and held consumer awareness promotions among others at Trafalgar Square in London. 

This year Garuda Indonesia has also resumed its direct ,Jakarta-Amsterdam flights increased frequences to cities in Japan, China and Australia, and tightened its domestic network to include popular destinations but having smaller airports like Labuan Bajo entry to the Komodo islands, Banyuwangi, on the most eastern edge of Java, Sorong for entry to Raja Ampat in Papua, Sumba, Sumbawa, and a host more.    

Source: www.republika.co.id