T

he country is confident that it will reach its foreign tourist arrival target this year as first quarter data released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has shown a positive trend, in spite of this being an election year.

The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry said on Friday that 2.2 million foreign tourists arrived in Indonesia in the January-March period this year, a 10.1 percent increase from the same period last year.

The trend was in line with this year'€™s target to increase tourist arrivals by about 10 percent to 9.5 million, from the 8.6 million recorded last year.

'€œI am optimistic that we will reach our target of 9.5 million tourist arrivals this year, based the first quarter'€™s trend,'€ ministry chief spokesman Noviendi Makalam said.

He said that most foreign tourists saw Indonesia'€™s political situation as stable.

'€œThe elections are not deterring tourists,'€ he said, adding that first quarter growth indicated such an indication.

Tourist arrivals increased to 765,000 arrivals in March from 702,000 in February.

Bali was the most popular tourist destination as Ngurah Rai International Airport topped the first quarter tourist arrivals list with 816,000 arrivals.

Jakarta came in second, with Soekarno-Hatta International Airport welcoming 562,000 tourists, while Batam followed at third with 338,000 arrivals.

Aside from the top three, Lombok International Airport saw the most significant growth with a 215 percent rise to 16,000 arrivals compared to last year'€™s first quarter arrivals of 5,000 tourists.

Noviendi said that although tourists from Singapore topped the arrivals list with 349,000 arrivals, he saw potential in the Chinese market as it had grown by 32 percent. China placed third on the tourist arrivals list in the first quarter.

'€œThe Chinese market is one of the ministry'€™s priorities,'€ he said, adding that the ministry was targeting Chinese people living in Indonesia.

In 2009, when Indonesia last held its general election, tourist arrivals rose slightly to 6.3 million compared to 6.2 million arrivals in 2008.

Compared to its neighbors, however, Indonesia still trails in the competitive tourist industry. In 2013, Malaysia received 25.7 million foreign tourists, Thailand 26.5 million, and Singapore 15.6 million, while Indonesia received 8.8 million.

The BPS on Friday also said that occupancy rates at hotels in Indonesia'€™s 27 provinces averaged 51 percent in March, slightly down from the 52 percent recorded a year earlier.

Indonesian airlines also enjoyed a good first quarter, with domestic passenger numbers having reached 13.5 million, or up by almost 2 percent, according to the BPS. The number of international departures from Indonesia'€™s main airports during the period rose 9.9 percent to 3.33 million, the agency said. (ask)