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Indonesia's tourism jumps in April as borders reopen
The number of foreign arrivals more than doubled in April, but that does not mean the sector is out of the woods as risks still exist.
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State-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II stages the Nusantara Cultural Parade at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, in this undated photograph. (Antara/PT Angkasa Pura II)
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lmost six times as many foreign tourists visited Indonesia in April compared to the same month last year, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, showing that the country’s tourism has begun to bounce back. But observers stress the need to remain vigilant about the recovery process.
Hendrie Adjie Kusworo, who heads Gadjah Mada University’s (UGM) doctoral program in tourism studies, warned stakeholders and domestic tourists to remain vigilant and to support the national tourism recovery.
“The recovery of tourism depends on the governments’ response to COVID-19 across the globe, and most importantly, on our continued efforts to keep the spread of the virus under control,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday, adding that Indonesia’s response to the pandemic was relatively effective at the moment.
Hendrie said he expected tourism, especially the number of foreign arrivals, to continue to grow slowly but surely, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Foreign tourist arrivals rose to 111,100 in April, up a whopping 172.27 percent from 40,800 a month before, BPS reported on Thursday, showing that the sector is in the process of recovering from the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
In comparison, Indonesia saw a total of 13.03 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2019. That number plummeted to 2.2 million in 2020 and to a mere 141,211 in 2021.
Read also: World tourism won't return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024: UN
