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Foreign tourist arrivals in March up by 10 percent
Several factors played a role in the 10
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everal factors played a role in the 10.13 percent rise in the number of foreign tourists in March, but the government has partly credited world-class music concerts and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings for the feat.
A series of APEC meetings brought senior officials to the country while music concerts and festivals such as the International Java Jazz Festival and Music Bank featuring Korean pop sensations also lured fans from overseas.
These international events are said to have helped increase the number of foreign tourists in March to 725,316 people.
'Over 700,000 foreign tourists [in March] is a record for us because normally that number is only achieved in the high season that falls between July and December. We hope this growth will lead to higher-spending tourists with longer stays in Indonesia,' Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
She added that last year's highest monthly figure was recorded in
December with 766,966 visitors.
Apart from the international events, the double-digit growth was supported by the opening of new flight slots such as national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia increasing its flight frequency to Taiwan and Japan, among the country's most important markets in Asia-Pacific.
According to the ministry data and information center, tourists from Middle Eastern countries visiting Indonesia showed the highest growth with 35 percent.
Meanwhile, the highest growth in the number of Asian tourists visiting Indonesia was from Taiwan at 27.2 percent, followed by China and India at 24.8 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively.
The growth in numbers of tourists from the Southeast Asia region is topped by Thais at 20.2 percent, followed by those from the Philippines and Singapore with growth of 20.2 percent and 14.5 percent,
respectively.
'We also saw growth in the numbers of European visitors, despite the eurozone crisis. The number of British tourists showed the highest increase with a 15.8 percent rise and Germans at 14.2 percent,' she added.
In total, the number of foreign visitors to Indonesia in the first three months of 2013 grew by 6 percent to 2,018,059 from 1,903,796 in the same period last year, Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data said.
Compared to February, March's figure experienced a rise of 6.91 percent from 678,415 visitors.
The BPS data released on Wednesday also shows that the main gateway for tourist arrivals in the archipelago, Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, recorded 247,034 visitors in March, up by 10.8 percent from 222,950 in the same month last year.
The highest growth in arrivals, however, was recorded at Lombok International Airport in West Nusa Tenggara with a rise of 67.51 percent.
Meanwhile, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten, saw a 12.43 percent rise in foreign arrivals to 186,548 throughout March 2013.
Moreover, the agency's data shows that the aggregate star-hotel room occupancy rate in 23 provinces was 52.2 percent in March, a decrease of 0.47 percent compared to the same month last year.
However, it shows a 3 percent increase from February.
Central Sulawesi recorded the highest star-hotel room-occupancy rate of 77.76 percent in March, followed by Bali and West Kalimantan at 60.12 percent and 57.84 percent, respectively.
The government aims to attract 9 million tourists in 2013, up by 12.5 percent from 8 million last year.
