TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian central statistics agency, BPS, noted that some 1.73 million foreign travelers visited Indonesia between January and August this year. The figure reflects an increase of 2,028 percent compared to the same period in 2021.

"This is understandable as last year we were still in a pandemic, which was why we only had 81,292 foreign visits in the same period last year," BPS chief Margo Yuwono said in Jakarta, Monday, October 3.

In August 2022, 510,250 foreign travelers visited Indonesia. Compared to the previous month, that figure only represents a slight increase of 6.98 percent. But on a year-on-year comparison, the growth is a staggering 28,727 percent.

Despite the significant climb, Margo said the number is still far below pre-pandemic visits.

"From January to August 2019, we received 8.56 million foreigners' visits," he said.

The BPS recorded that Australia, Singapore and Malaysia were the top three countries of origin of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia during the first eight months of 2022 with 16.6 percent, 12.4 percent and 3.9 percent respectively.

Margo hopes that foreign tourist visits to Indonesia can recover soon to pre-pandemic levels and helped restore the sector's double impact on the national economy.

ANTARA

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