The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Tuesday that  tourist arrivals from January to November reached 12.68 million last year, or 21.84 percent higher compared to the figure in the corresponding period in 2016.

BPS head Suhariyanto said his agency was still waiting for the data in December, which was supposed to be the peak season of tourist arrivals, but many tourists had to cancel their trips to Indonesia, particularly to Bali because of the eruption of Mount Agung.

“Let's just wait for the December data to know how many foreign tourists we welcomed in 2017," he said at a press conference in Jakarta.

Indonesia targeted to have 15 million foreign tourists last year.

Arrivals at two major airports — Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and Ngurah Rai International Airport — decreased by 0.93 and 9.63 percent year-on-year (yoy), respectively.

He said arrivals at Ngurah Rai Airport and Lombok International Airport in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) decreased steeply in November by 22.55 percent and 14.39 percent respectively.

China, the largest contributor, contributed 13.36 percent to total tourist arrivals in November, followed by Singapore with 12.25 percent of tourists, Malaysia with 11.30 percent and Australia with 7.81 percent. (srs/bbn)