(thejakartapost.com/Raditya Margi)

Indonesia has welcomed 7.19 million foreign tourists in the first nine months of 2015, an increase of 3.53 percent compared with the same period last year.

According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS)'s data, the country attracted 869,200 foreigners in September, an increase of 9.84 percent compared with the same period last year and 2.19 percent compared with August 2015.

"The visa-free policy for 40 countries has helped boost the number of foreign visitors," BPS head Suryamin told a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

"If the trend continues until the end of this year, we're optimistic that we'll be able to reach this year's target of 10 million foreign visitors," he added.

According to Suryamin, the largest contributors to visitors in September were Singapore with 14.31 percent, Malaysia and Australia, both with 12.03 percent, China with 11.71 percent and Japan with 6.18 percent.

The continuing haze disaster, however, has decreased the number of foreign visitor arrivals in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Sepinggan Airport in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, for example, welcomed 41.07 percent fewer foreigners than it did during same period last year.

"The same thing can be seen at the Kuala Namu Airport in North Sumatra, which was affected by haze as well as the eruption of Mount Sinabung. The number of foreign tourists dropped by 16.5 percent compared with September last year and 9.9 percent compared with August this year," Suryamin added.

Bali has remained popular, with foreign visitor arrivals rising to 27.04 percent compared with last month, an indication that tourism in the island has bounced back after the temporary closure of Ngurah Rai International Airport due to the eruption of Mount Raung in East Java in August.

But the highest increase in foreign arrivals was recorded by Yogyakarta's Adi Sucipto Airport with a 62.4 percent increase compared with the same period last year, followed by Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport with 22.13 percent and West Kalimantan's Entikong, a town on the Indonesia-Malaysia border, with 17.16 percent.

The government has set a target of attracting 12 million foreign tourists next year. One of its strategies to boost the number includes waiving visa requirements for another 45 countries by the end of this year, which means a total of 90 nationalities that will be eligible to visit the country without a visa for a maximum of 30 days. (kes)

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