FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS UP 12.34 PERCENT IN OCTOBER

Jakarta, 9 Shafar 1436/2 December 2014 (MINA) –The number of foreign tourist arrivals in October 2014 rose by 12.34 percent to 808,767 people from 719,903 people in the same month last year, Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data revealed on Monday.

BPS head Suryamin said that a total of 7.75 million foreign tourists visited destinations across the archipelago during the January–October 2014 period, up by 8.71 percent from the 7.13 million tourists recorded in the same period in 2013.

In addition, Suryamin said that the country’s main tourist gateway, Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, recorded the highest increase in arrivals in October, with a 27.3 percent rise in visitors to 339,200 from 266,453 people in the same month in the previous year, The Jakarta Post quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting on Tuesday.

“Meanwhile, cumulatively [from January to October 2014], Lombok International Airport [in West Nusa Tenggara] recorded the highest growth in the number of foreign visitors with a 118.77 percent jump [compared with January to October 2013],” he said in Jakarta on Monday.

Meanwhile, the country’s main gateway, Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, recorded a 7.41 percent decline in foreign tourists in October. Suryamin said that BPS data showed that 177,274 foreign tourists entered Indonesia via Soekarno Hatta in October 2014, down from 191,460 tourists in the same month in 2013.

The government has set a target of attracting a total of 9.5 million tourists this year.(T/P009/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)