Foreign Tourist Arrivals Grow Double-Digit, Chinese Tourists Surge Sharply in February 2026

JAKARTA - Indonesia’s tourism sector performance in early 2026 exhibited a contrast between foreign tourists (wisman) and domestic tourists (wisnus). Deputy for Distribution and Services Statistics at BPS, Ateng Hartono, stated that the number of foreign tourist visits grew double-digit in February 2026, while domestic tourist movements remained relatively stable with a slight weakening tendency cumulatively. Ateng noted that foreign tourist visits in February 2026 reached 1.16 million visits, an increase of 13.37% compared to the same period last year. “The growth in visits by Chinese nationals in February 2026 reached 68.89% year-on-year,” he said. The surge in tourists from China became one of the main drivers of this growth. In addition, visits from Singapore also increased by 21.81% year-on-year. Conversely, tourists from Malaysia, which remains the largest contributor, experienced a decline of 7.17%. In terms of composition, Ateng explained that tourists from Malaysia recorded the highest number of visits to Indonesia with 199,220 visits or equivalent to 17.18% of total foreign tourists in February 2026. The next position was occupied by China with 150,820 visits or 13.01%, and Singapore with 109,330 visits or 9.43%. On the other hand, domestic tourist movements showed a flatter trend. In February 2026, the number of domestic tourist trips was recorded at 91.14 million trips, growing only slightly by 0.70% compared to February the previous year. BPS noted that historically, the number of domestic tourist trips in February tends to be lower than in January. This seasonal pattern has occurred consistently in recent years, in line with the end of the long holiday momentum at the beginning of the year. With this trend, the recovery of Indonesia’s tourism sector appears to be more supported by the increase in foreign tourist visits, especially from the Asian market, while domestic movements are still moving limitedly.