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oreign tourist arrivals in November increased 16.37 percent to 807,400 from a year earlier, with Malaysians topping the number of tourists visiting the archipelago, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The data published on Thursday said Malaysians topped the list with 151,387 or 18.75 percent of total arrivals.

Singaporeans came in second with 16.81 percent while Australians came in third with 11.38 percent. Chinese and Japanese followed with 8.49 percent and 5.50 percent, respectively.

'€œMany Malaysians visited Indonesia in November because it is when they have many holidays,'€ Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry spokesman Noviendi Makalam said on Thursday.

According to a data from the BPS, Malaysians also topped the list of foreign nationalities visiting Indonesia in November 2012 with 142,596 or 20.55 percent of 693,900 arrivals.

Coming second were Singaporeans with 16.67 percent and third were Australians with 10.58 percent. Chinese and Japanese tourists showed relatively the same percentage as that in November 2013, with 8.06 percent and 5.62 percent, respectively.

The number of foreign tourists coming from China, the Middle East and West European countries had actually increased significantly, he added.

'€œWe have recorded an increase of 125,000 tourists from China in the period of January to November 2013,'€ he said, adding that the calculations were made on a year-on-year basis.

Noviendi said that new direct flights from neighboring countries to several tourist destinations in the country had significantly contributed to the number of tourist arrivals as well as diffusion in destinations.

According to BPS data, the majority of foreign tourist arrivals still came through main gateways in popular tourist destinations.

The data said that 36.78 percent of tourist arrivals in November 2013 came through Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali while 24.71 percent came through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta.

However, a significant increase of arrivals were seen in Lombok International Airport (BIL) in West Nusa Tenggara and Adi Sumarmo International Airport in Surakarta, Central Java.

BIL recorded a 208.65 percent increase to 5,386 arrivals in November from only 1,745 arrivals a year earlier, the data said.

Adi Sumarmo enjoyed a 90.9 percent increase from 736 arrivals in November 2012 to 1,405 arrivals in November 2013.

'€œWe have opened direct flights from Singapore and Australia to BIL and Adi Sumarmo airports in the last two years. The huge increase in arrivals shows that easy access is all tourists want,'€ Noviendi said, adding that the government should also boost infrastructure development in tourist areas other than Bali.

Since last year, the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has promoted 16 alternative tourist destinations, including Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Ende in East Nusa Tenggara and diving spot Raja Ampat in West Papua.

The ministry has targeted 9.2 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2014, lower than the initial target of 10 million, following the slow recovery in the global economy.

Meanwhile, the country recorded 7.94 million foreign tourist arrivals from January to November 2013, a
9.12 percent increase from 7.28 million arrivals in the same period in 2012.

Last year alone, the ministry targeted 8.63 million foreign tourist arrivals, a correction of the initial
target of 9 million.

According to data from the BPS and the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, the highest increase in arrivals recorded last November were from Saudi Arabia with a 71.19 percent increase, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 55.16 percent, Germany with 48.48 percent, Bahrain with 43.28 percent and Egypt with 42.86 percent. (koi)