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Chinese tourist numbers peak in August
Chinese tourists are seen at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali in this September 2014 photograph
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Chinese tourists are seen at Ngurah Rai International Airport, in Bali, in this September 2014 photograph. (thejakartapost.com/Edna Tarigan) (thejakartapost.com/Edna Tarigan)
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span class="inline inline-center">Chinese tourists are seen at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali in this September 2014 photograph. (thejakartapost.com/Edna Tarigan)
The growth in Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia reached a high point this year, with 779,348 Chinese visitors from January to August, a 20.74 percent increase from the same period in 2014.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded a total of 6,322,592 foreign tourists entering the country from January to August.
The BPS also recorded that in August Chinese tourists dominated major arrival gates around the country, such as at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, with 66,311 arrivals, at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, with 33,991 arrivals and at Batam Sekupang International Port and Hang Nadim International Airport, with 4,376 arrivals.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said on Monday that the numbers of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia in August exceeded his ministry's target of 850,000.
'I hope this achievement can happen again in September,' he said in a press release made available to thejakartapost.com.
In August, the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia was 850,542, a 2.87% increase from the same month last year. The greatest increase of tourists in August, by country of origin, was those from Egypt with a 25.51 percent increase on last August, followed by China with a 24.97 percent increase, Singapore visitors up 23.28 percent, Taiwan up 16.68 percent and Britain up 11.50 percent.
'From the data covering January to August 2015, the numbers of foreign visitors are meeting targets. In the first semester [from January to June], we reached 45 percent of the target. For the following three months we almost reached 25 percent of the target,' Arief said.
He said he was sure that foreign tourism, especially from the five main countries ' Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan and Australia ' would not be effected significantly by the global economic crisis.
'We hope in the next few months that foreign tourists visiting from those five countries and from other countries with visa-free entry will increase,' Arief added.
