BPS data reveals tourism woes

BPS data reveals tourism woes

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said on Monday that the
regional spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) had
taken a heavy toll on the Indonesian tourism industry.

A report from the agency revealed that the number of foreign
tourist arrivals to Indonesian feel by 29 percent, from 288,417
in March to 204,565 in April, due to the outbreak of the
pneumonia-like illness in Singapore and other countries in Asia.

"There were less tourist arrivals at the country's 13 main
points of entry. For example, in Bali, the main tourist
destination, the number of arrivals plummeted by 23.98 percent to
58,900 from 77,500 a month earlier," said Slamet Mukeno, BPS
deputy chairman for economic statistics.

The report said that all the 13 main gateways saw substantial
decreases in tourist arrivals. Only two main gateways, Tanjung
Priok port in Jakarta and Mataram port in West Nusa Tenggara,
recorded a rise in tourist arrivals in April -- by 10.06 percent
and 2.03 percent, respectively.

During the first four months of 2003, the number of tourists
arriving in the country dropped by 19.54 percent to 1.06 million,
from 1.32 million in the same period last year, the report said.

The BPS report painted a bleaker picture of the tourist
industry compared to a recent report from the office of the State
Minister for Culture and Tourism, which estimated that in the
period from January to April, the number of foreign tourist
arrivals reached 1,240,640.