Tourists flock to Baturraden

Tourists flock to Baturraden

PURWOKERTO, Central Java: While the economic situation has
become bleaker for many in the past few months, the Baturraden
tourist site has registered a 50 percent increase in visitors
during the recently ended school vacation period.

Head of the Baturraden tourist office Andri Sungkowo told The
Jakarta Post yesterday he was surprised at the soaring number of
visitors.

In the past three months, the number of visitors rose from an
average of about 2,000 on weekends to about 3,000.

"In fact last weekend we had 5,000 people here," he said.

"We really never expected this, and its really a welcome
surprise.

"Maybe during these times of economic crisis people need a bit
of invigoration."

But while the overall number of visitors rose, the number of
foreign tourists declined.

Andri said prior to May there were about 400 foreign visitors
per month, but the number now only ranks in the dozens.

"In July, we only recorded 28 foreign tourists," he said. (45)