Foreign tourists spending up 6%

JAKARTA (JP): Foreign tourist spending in Indonesia increased 6 percent to US$2.64 billion in the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 1996, a minister said.

Tourist arrivals in the country through seven major gateways in the January-June period of this year totaled 2,019,334, up 1.6 percent from those in the first half of last year, Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave told House of Representatives members in a hearing at his office here yesterday.

"We expect to see between 5.3 million and 5.5 million international visitors this year, up by between 5.2 percent and 9 percent from total figures in 1996," he said.

He said the government was optimistic about achieving the projection as the number of foreign tourist arrivals was usually higher in the second half.

The government originally targeted receiving between $7.2 billion and $7.8 billion from between 5.3 million and 5.7 million overseas visitors in 1997.

Last year, the country received $5.13 billion in foreign exchange spending from five million tourists.

"We should maintain our air accessibility, improve our tourist promotion and marketing, diversify our tourist products and improve the quantity and quality of tourist facilities and infrastructure," he said. (icn)