Foreign tourist arrivals up in June, BPS report

JAKARTA (JP): The number of foreign visitors arriving in Indonesia rose slightly in June to 388,900 from 367,000 in the previous month, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) reported on Wednesday.

The bureau attributed the 5.7 percent increase in tourist arrivals to improvements in the domestic security situation as well as being the peak season with many travelers on summer vacation.

BPS said that the increase was contributed partly by a growth of foreign visitor arrivals in Bali.

The number of foreign visitors through Ngurah Rai Airport, which accounts for 35 percent of the country's foreign tourist arrivals, rose by 16 percent to 135,000 in June from 118,000 in May, it reported.

In addition to Bali, the bureau also reported that foreign tourist arrivals at Sam Ratulangi and Hasanudin airports rose significantly by 30.7 percent and 28.7 percent respectively in June compared to figures from May.

However, BPS said foreign tourist arrivals fell slightly by 2.2 percent and 1.7 percent respectively in June at Soekarno- Hatta Airport and Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta.

Indonesia has 13 international entry points, including airports in Jakarta, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, East Java, Central Java, West Nusa Tenggara, North Sulawesi and South Sulawesi; seaports in Batam, Jakarta and Riau; and a land border crossing in Entikong, West Kalimantan.

Commenting on the increase, Kusmadi Saleh, the bureau deputy, said that foreign tourist arrivals had not slowed for several years.

"The tourism sector has always been growing over the past three years," Kusmadi said.

In the first half of 2001, foreign tourist arrivals increased by 5.9 percent to 2.08 million from 1.95 million in the corresponding period in 2000, he said.

If the country could maintain this growth in the coming years, then the tourism sector might generate economic activities which in turn would help speed the country's economic recovery, he said.

The bureau also reported an increase in the occupancy rate of star-rated hotels in 10 tourist destinations nationwide.

The occupancy rate of those hotels rose by 1.84 points to 44.70 percent in May, from 42.86 percent in April, the bureau reported.

The highest occupancy rate was seen in Bali's hotels, which averaged 59.42 percent, but that figure was 0.80 points lower than the 60.22 percent recorded in the previous month. The lowest, among others, were hotels in South Sulawesi, which hovered at a 18.73 percent occupancy rate.(03)