Total tourist arrivals to Indonesia in the first 7 months of 2012 reached 4.58 million, rising 5.4% over the 4.34 million visitors in the same period last year, said Sentot Widoyono, Director of the National Statistics Board, on Monday, September 3.
All airports have shown an uptrend in incoming passengers, with Bandung’s Husein Sastranegara airport recording the highest increase at 28.79%, while international visitors through the main airports of Jakarta increased by 9.1%, to Bali up 5.83%, to Medan 12.13%, and through the seaports of Batam up 7.69%.
Top source markets are Singapore (12.89% share), Australia (12.88%), Malaysia (11.6%), China (8.8%), and Japan (5.9% share).
However, specifically in the month of July, there was a decline of 5.94% over July 2011. This is due to the holding of the Olympic Games in London, attracting tourists to Europe, and the beginning of the Ramadan fasting month, reducing travelers from Islamic countries, such as from Saudi Arabia to Indonesia, said Widoyono.
Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, is convinced that the target of 8 million tourist arrivals for this year will be met, seeing that another peak holiday season at the end of the year should draw more visitors, besides the fact that Indonesia has a large number of new and attractive destinations to offer, among which are the Komodo Islands in East Nusatenggara and the Raja Ampat island chain in West Papua.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s own domestic tourism has grown unabatedly. During the past Eid holidays, recreation parks around the country have reported an average 25% increase in visitors, said Minister Mari Pangestu. Among the most popular are the Ragunan Zoo and Taman Mini in Jakarta, the Ancol Dreamland, the Safari Parks in West Java, East Java and Bali, the Borobudur and Prambanan temples, and the ruins of the Ratuboko Palace in Central Java and Yogyakarta.
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