TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced that the number of foreign tourist visits to the country in October 2020 declined drastically up to 88.25 percent, which was recorded 158,190, compared to October last year.

“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some countries relax [tourism] regulations and some tighten them. This causes foreign tourists to consider health issues [before traveling],” said the BPS Deputy for Distribution and Services Statistics, Setianto, in a video conference on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020.

However, Setianto mentioned that when compared to the data in September 2020, the number of international tourists visit actually increased by 4.57 percent.

Meanwhile from January to October 2020, Indonesia received 3.72 million international visits. The figure also dropped by 72.35 percent compared to the same period last year totaling 13.45 million visits.

Of the total visits, 12,760 foreign tourists entered the archipelago using air travel, 45,690 tourists using sea travel, and 99,740 tourists using land travel. Based on the air entrance, the number of international tourists visit in October 2020 plummeted by 98.51 percent compared to October 2019.

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MUHAMMAD HENDARTYO