Foreign tourist arrivals up 4.14 percent

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Foreign tourist arrivals increased by 4.14 percent in July, as travellers, encouraged by the peaceful first-round presidential election, continued coming to the country, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said on Wednesday.

The agency said the number of foreign visitors during the month rose to more than 424,800 from over 407,900 in the previous month.

In the first seven months of the year, the number of foreign visitors jumped by 31.23 percent to 2.56 million, compared to 1.95 million in the same period of last year.

The government is targeting five million foreign tourists this year, up from 4.4 million in 2003.

"The presidential election in July went quite smoothly, and this meant foreign visitors kept coming here. The number of visitors for the first seven months is also improved compared to the same period last year, meaning that tourism in the country is back on track after falling apart in 2003," BPS chief Choiril Maksum said.

The tourism sector in Indonesia experienced a turbulent period last year after the prolonged repercussions of the Bali bombing in 2002 and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic.

The sector is a major foreign exchange earner for Indonesia and employs a large number of people.

The BPS further said the average occupancy rate of star-rated hotels in 10 major tourist destination areas in June rose slightly by 1.51 percent to 47.44 percent, from 45.93 percent in May.

Meanwhile, the average length of stay of foreign tourists in star-rated hotels during June was 2.05 days, down from 2.08 days compared to May.