Tue, 03 Aug 2010

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - More than 3.38 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia in the first half of 2010, up 14 percent from the same period last year, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said.

In June 2010 alone, more than 613.4 thousand foreign tourists visited the country, an 11.41 percent increase compared to the same period last year, BPS Chief Rusman Heriawan said here on Monday.

Compared to May, the number of tourist arrivals in June slightly rose 2.23 percent, he said.

The number of tourists visiting Bali via Ngurah Rai Airport in June 2010 reached 224.7 thousand, an increase of 12.07 percent compared to June 2009 or 12.68 percent to May 2010, he said.

The rise in the number of tourist arrivals in June raised the average occupancy rates of star-rated hotels in 17 of the country`s 33 provinces to 53.37 percent, up 0.73 point compared to June 2009 or 2.15 point to May 2010, he said.

On average the foreign tourists stayed at the star-rated hotels for 1.96 days in June 2010, down 0.04 day from June 2009, he said.

The BPS also noted that the number of domestic air passengers in June reached 3.5 million, an increase of 0.43 percent from a month earlier.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign-bound air passengers in June rose 14.06 percent to 867.3 thousand compared to the previous month.

In the January-June 2010 period, the number of domestic and foreign-bound air passengers increased 20.99 percent to 20 million and 25.96 percent to 4.5 million respectively compared to the same period last year.(*)