Tourist arrivals down 3.55% in June

Tourist arrivals down 3.55% in June

JAKARTA (JP): The number of tourists arriving in Indonesia
decreased by 3.55 percent to 234,585 in June from 243,497 in the
same month of last year.

Data from the Directorate General of Tourism show that last
month's decrease in tourist arrivals occurred in three of the
country's four main gates, including Jakarta, Bali and Medan. The
other main gate is Batam in Riau, while the other entrances
include airports in Manado of North Sulawesi and Surabaya of East
Java.

The data, however, shows that the number of foreign tourists
visiting Indonesia during the first semester of this year totaled
1,49 million, 16.72 percent higher than the 1.27 million in the
same period last year.

In the first six months this year, Manado recorded the highest
growth with 337.26 percent increase from 738 visitors last year
to 3.227 this year. Several domestic and foreign airlines started
direct flights to the city early this year.

However, the number of tourist arrivals in Medan, North
Sumatra, fell by 1.38 percent to 86,745 in the January-June
period from 85,550 in the same period last year.

Indonesia expects arrivals of 3.8 million visitors this year.
(icn)