Tourist numbers down in February: BPS<\/p>\n
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The number of tourists arriving through the country's 13 main
\nentry points was down in February from the same period the
\nprevious year, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said.<\/p>\n
In February, 309,006 travelers visited Indonesia, a nearly 10
\npercent drop from the 321,576 visitors recorded the previous
\nyear, BPS reported on Friday.<\/p>\n
Tourist figures for the first two months of the year were down
\nslightly to some 657,000 visitors from 679,900 in the same period
\nin 2004, or about 3.28 percent lower.<\/p>\n
The beaches of Bali, however, proved impossible to resist,
\nwith 105,402 tourist arrivals on the resort island in February,
\nfrom fewer than 90,000 the previous year.<\/p>\n
Investment island Batam saw a drop in the number of foreign
\nguests to 83,677 in February, from 123,263 in the same period in
\n2004.<\/p>\n
According to a BPS analysis, the government's visa-on-arrival
\npolicy had little to do with the decline in tourist figures.<\/p>\n
The controversial visa policy was introduced in February last
\nyear, cutting the number of countries eligible for visa-on-
\narrival from 60 to 21. The government waives visas for tourists
\nfrom nine other countries -- mostly members of the Association of
\nthe Southeast Asian Nations -- on the basis of reciprocity.<\/p>\n
State Minister for Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik has said the
\ngovernment is considering granting more countries the visa-on-
\narrival facility.<\/p>\n
The average length of stay of foreigner tourists in star-rated
\nhotels also declined in January this year to 3.44 days, compared
\nto 3.63 days in the same period the previous year. Foreign
\ntourists stayed an average of one day longer in star-rated hotels
\nin North Sumatra and East Java, while they stayed a day less in
\nWest Sumatra, Central Java and Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's tourist sector has struggled since the Bali
\nbombings in 2002.<\/p>\n
An explosion in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta
\nlast October proved to be another blow, prompting the U.S., the
\nUnited Kingdom and Australia to issue travel warnings for the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The tourism office hopes to attract six million visitors from
\nabroad this year. According to government data, 5.3 million
\npeople traveled from abroad to the archipelago last year,
\ngenerating approximately US$5.3 billion in foreign exchange.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tourist-numbers-down-in-february-bps-1447893297",
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