Tourist arrivals drop drastically

KENDARI, Southeast Sulawesi: Over 33,000 local and foreign tourists visited the province in the first half of the year, a sharp drop from the same period last year.

The head of the provincial Tourism, Art and Culture Office, Sukarna, said here yesterday that based on these figures he expected the total number of tourists visiting the province this year to drop drastically.

He pointed out that the 33,368 tourists in the first six months of this year only made up about 5 percent of the total number of tourists visiting the province for the whole of 1997.

Domestic tourists made up the largest number of arrivals with 30,926 while foreigners numbered 2,442, Antara reported.

According to Sukarna, the main reason for the decline in tourist arrivals is the fear of safety following the wave of political turmoil and unrest which has swept the country.