TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Years later, Indonesian tourism still below pre-pandemic level
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Domestic and foreign tourists throng Canggu Beach in Badung regency, Bali, on June 4, 2020, despite the mobility restrictions put in place to curb COVID-19 infections. (Antara/Fikri Yusuf)
M
ore than four years after the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on international travel, Indonesia’s crucial tourist industry has yet to recover.
According to the latest monthly report from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the number of foreign arrivals to Indonesia so far this year is 10 percent below the figure recorded over the same period in 2019.
From January through August 2024, 9.09 million foreign travelers visited the archipelago. Despite annual increases every year since 2021, that cumulative figure remains below the 10.71 million arrivals recorded over the same eight-month period in 2019.
Similarly, the Immigration Directorate General, which uses a wider measure for the number of visitors, also reported a decrease of foreign arrivals in 2024 compared to the pre-pandemic level in 2019.
While the January-August period of 2019 saw 12 million foreign arrivals, the equivalent period in 2024 recorded approximately 9 million, marking a steep drop of 29 percent.
“The reason why this happened is because, in 2019, we had a free [tourist] visa [for visitors from] 169 countries. Now it’s limited to only 13,” said the directorate’s representative for immigration traffic, Anggit Suhandono.
