Half of foreign tourists enter Indonesia through Bali, Batam

JAKARTA (JP): Foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia this year are projected to reach between 3.9 million and 4.4 million, higher than the total arrivals of 3.5 million recorded in 1998.

According to the latest data issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture, Bali and Batam will receive at least 50 percent of the tourists.

The ministry predicted inbound tourist arrivals will touch its lowest level in May, with 319,700 tourists, a slight drop from 324,700 tourist arrivals in April.

According to the ministry, the number will increase only by 1 percent in June to 323,200 due to a growing fear from both a national and an international public over worsening political turmoil to occur before, during and after the June 7 general election.

Indonesia's foreign tourist arrivals are expected to reach a peak in December of between 349,300 and 404,530.

The ministry said Jakarta will absorb between 596,850 and 717,550 foreign visitors this year.

Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport used to be Indonesia's busiest gateway before the economic crisis hit the country in mid-1997, followed by political turmoil that further deteriorated foreigners' confidence in the safety and security of the city.

The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Jakarta fell to 682,747 in 1998 from 1.4 million recorded in 1997, the ministry's data indicates.

Bali and Batam, which received 1.2 million and 1.1 million foreign tourists respectively in 1997, were visited only by 891,813 and 831,977 foreign tourists last year.

Foreign tourist arrivals in the country fell to 3.5 million in 1998, a 30 percent drop from 5.1 million in the previous year. Foreign exchange earnings from foreign tourists dropped to US$3.5 billion from $5.3 billion in that period.

As for the first two months of this year, the number of foreign tourists increased 2.9 percent to 602,630 from 585,714 in the January-February period of the previous year. Foreign exchange receipts during that period rose slightly to $606.2 million from $594.4 million.

Foreign tourists visiting Bali and Batam accounted for 35.5 percent and 32.1 percent respectively of the country's total foreign tourist arrivals.

This reflects the foreign tourists' confidence in the two islands as being safer destinations to visit.

The ministry said star-rated hotels' occupancy rate in 1998 stood at an average of 39.8 percent. The average occupancy rate in Bali last year was recorded at 52 percent, Jakarta 41.3 percent, Sumatra 38.6 percent, Java 36.4 percent and eastern regions 34.5 percent.

The rates were higher in 1997, when Bali scored 57.3 percent in average and Jakarta 49.2 percent.

Currently, there are 810 rated hotels across the country with a total capacity of 81,997 rooms, and 8,798 nonrated hotels totaling 149,725 rooms.

Sixteen new investment proposals in hotels and tourism, consisting of $9.2 million foreign investments and Rp 127 billion local investments, were approved during January and February this year. (cst)