hina contributed the largest number of tourist arrivals in February, 21.31 percent of the total arrivals of 957,583, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
BPS chairman Suhariyanto said on Monday that the increase in Chinese tourist numbers, recorded at 194,365, was achieved after the opening of direct flights from eight cities in China to Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado, North Jakarta.
“The opening of direct flights has boosted the arrivals of Chinese tourists to Indonesia,” Suhariyanto told a press conference in Jakarta as reported by tempo.co, compared to the same month last year, the number of Chinese tourists increased by 19.9 percent.
(Read also: Lombok to launch maiden jazz festival in August to attract tourists)
Manado is the closest major Indonesian city to China.
Other main tourist contributors include Australia (10.48 percent), Malaysia (9.76 percent) and Singapore (4.29 percent.)
The government expects to welcome 15 million tourists in 2017, with 2.1 million tourists expected from China. President Joko “Jokowi” Wiododo has signed an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to attract 10 million tourists from China by 2019. (bbn)
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