Foreign tourist arrivals recover after decrease

Foreign tourist arrivals recover after decrease

JAKARTA (JP): Foreign tourist arrivals through seven major
entry points in Indonesia recovered in June after continuous
decreases in April and May.

Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications data shows
the number of tourists arriving in Indonesia increased by 5.6
percent to 381,177 in June from 360,969 in the same month last
year.

The June 1997 figure was up 17.9 percent as compared to
323,167 the previous month.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia dropped by
5.3 percent in April and by 3.7 percent in May compared to the
corresponding months in 1996.

With the month-to-month 5.6 percent increase in June, foreign
tourist arrivals in Indonesia increased by 1.6 percent in the
first six months this year.

The data shows the country's foreign exchange earnings from
tourists increased 10.2 percent in June to US$498.58 million from
$452.26 in June 1996.

Foreign exchange earnings in June this year were the highest,
with $395.72 million gained in January, $412.62 million
(February), $485.75 million (March), $426.27 million (April) and
$498.58 million (May).

Total foreign exchange receipts increased 6 percent to $2.64
billion in the first half this year, as compared to $2.49 billion
in same period in 1996.

According to the data, tourist arrivals through the Soekarno-
Hatta airport in Jakarta dropped in the January-June period.

The number of foreign tourists who entered the country via the
capital's airport reached 108,712 in January 1997 (a 2.2 percent
fall compared to the same month in 1996), 102,430 in February (a
7.7 percent fall), 123,500 in March (11.6 percent drop), 113,253
in April (13 percent drop), 99,607 in May (23.7 percent drop) and
131,489 in June (2.1 percent drop).

Foreign tourist arrivals through Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport, on average, dropped 10.3 percent in the
first six months this year.

Tourist arrivals in June also dropped at two of the country's
other entry points, the Polonia airport in Medan, North Sumatra
(10.3 percent) and the Entikong gate, on the border with West
Kalimantan and Malaysia (35.5 percent).

The Ngurah Rai airport in Bali increased 7.3 percent in June,
while the airports in Manado (North Sulawesi), Surabaya (East
Java) and on Batam island (Riau) all recorded an increase.

The Soekarno-Hatta Airport was still the prime entry point for
foreign tourists in the first six months this year, totaling 33.6
percent of total foreign tourist arrivals, followed by Bali (30.1
percent) and Batam island (27.9 percent).

The three entry points recorded 91.6 percent of foreign
tourist arrivals during the 1997 January-June period.

The data shows 2,019,334 foreign tourists visited Indonesia
through seven major entrances from January to June this year, 1.6
percent more than the 1,988,184 tourists in the same period last
year.

International visitors in Indonesia totaled five million in
1996, up 17 percent from 1995. The country earned $5.13 billion
in foreign exchange from tourist arrivals last year.

The government targets to receive between $7.2 billion and
$7.8 billion from between 5.3 million and 5.7 million overseas
visitors in 1997. (icn)