Malaysians dominate foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia

During 2019, tourists of Malaysian nationality dominated the number of foreign visitors arriving in Indonesia, with 2.58 million, or constituting 18.94 percent of the total number of visitors.

According to data revealed by Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Suhariyanto in Jakarta on Monday, tourists from the ASEAN region constituted the highest number of visitors, with a rise of 17.78 percent.

However, the Asian region, in general, witnessed a major drop of 10.28 percent. In the meantime, 1.77 million tourists, or 13.01 percent, from China had visited Indonesia in 2019, followed by 1.55 million tourists from Singapore, and 1.15 million from Australia.

The Room Occupancy Rate (TPK) for star-rated hotels in Indonesia in October 2019 had decreased 2.07 percent as compared to October last year, from 58.84 percent to 56.77 percent.

In the meantime, Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Suhariyanto noted that the TPK in October had increased by 3.25 percent than that of September.

Foreign guests, on an average, stayed 1.80 days in Indonesia at starred hotels in October 2019, a 0.10-point drop than October 2018.

The highest TPK was recorded in Bengkulu Province, at 68.97 percent; followed by Bali, at 63.30 percent; and Lampung Province, 62.99 percent.

However, the lowest figure was recorded in Papua, at 42.87 percent. The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia in October 2019 had reached 1.35 million, a 4.86-percent rise in comparison with that of the previous year.(Antara)

Illustration: Malaysians visit the Indonesian stand at MATTA (Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies) Fair Kuala Lumpur at Putra World Trade Center (PWTC), Malaysia, Friday (6/9/2019).The Central Statistics Agency revealed that in 2018, some 2.5 million tourists from Malaysia had visited Indonesia, and the MATTA FAIR is expected to invite more Malaysian visitors on a large scale. ANTARA FOTO/Rafiuddin Abdul Rahman/ama/ac.