T

he country is on course to meet its target of 10 million foreign tourists this year as data up to August showed encouraging signs despite a temporary glitch from airport shutdowns across Java and Bali because of volcanic ash.

Over 850,000 foreign tourists arrived in the country in August, up 2.87 percent year-on-year (yoy) and 4.46 percent month-on-month (mom) compared with the July figure, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Thursday.

That boosted foreign tourist arrivals to 6.32 million so far this year, a 2.7 percent yoy increase from January-August last year.

With more than 3.6 million arrivals needed by year-end to catch up, the Tourism Ministry was upbeat that the last four months of the year would see a pickup in monthly arrivals, as seen in previous years.

'€œWe aim to welcome 850,000 foreign tourists in September, one million in each October and November and 1.1 million in December '€” thus achieving our 10 million arrivals target,'€ the ministry'€™s Asia Pacific promotion director Vinsensius Jemadu told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

This year'€™s 10 million target is part of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s vision to see annual foreign tourist arrivals of 20 million by 2019 when his tenure ends.

'€œWe aim to welcome 12 million tourists next year and gradually increase it up to 20 million in 2019,'€ Vinsensius said in reference to the ministry'€™s mid-term development plan (RPJM).

The government has moved to waive visa requirements for visitors from dozens of countries and intensify overseas promotions to realize the ambitious tourist target.

BPS head Suryamin said that this year'€™s monthly tourist numbers were consistently higher than last year, except in January and June.

'€œIf the trend continues until year-end, we are optimistic that the Tourism Ministry'€™s target [on tourist numbers] will be achieved,'€ he said, adding that tourist arrivals usually peaked in December.

Singapore topped the country-of-origin portion in August at 15.13 percent, followed by China at 14.95 percent, Malaysia at 11.18 percent and Australia and Japan at 8.35 percent and 5.75 percent, respectively.

The data also showed that Bali remained foreign tourists'€™ favorite entry point although the number of arrivals slid 11.29 percent yoy to 298,638 and was lower by 21.8 percent mm.

Suryamin said the decline was caused by the eruption of Mount Raung in Bondowoso, East Java, which forced Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali to close and cancel hundreds of inbound and outbound flights.

'€œMost of the tourists then entered the country through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten,'€ he said, in reference to data suggesting a 15.5 percent increase yoy in tourist arrivals at the airport to 252,542 in August, reflecting a 44.2 percent jump mom.

Volcanic activity from Mt. Raung on Java shut down international airports serving Surabaya, the largest city after capital Jakarta, and Bali, while other airports serving domestic routes also had to close down temporarily, namely Jember and Banyuwangi in East Java, as well as Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara.

The natural disaster was also blamed for a decrease in Australian tourist arrivals as their share was slashed to 8.35 percent in August from 11.54 percent in July.

'€œThat'€™s a logical consequence as 80 percent of Australian tourists entering Indonesia head to Bali,'€ Vinsensius said. (prm)
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