TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Central Statistics Agency (BPS) head Suryamin anounced that the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia in May 2016 increased by 7.37 percent compared to the same period of last year from 852,000 to 915,000.
Suryamin added that the figure increased when compared to that in April 2016 that stood at 901,000.
"The number increased by 1.57 percent," Suryamin said at his office in Jakarta on Friday, July 1, 2016.
According to Suryamin, tourists from Singapore accounts for the largest portion of the total figure at 14.79 percent, followed by Malaysia at 14.10 percent, China at 12.61 percent, Australia at 11.67 percent and India at 4.03 percent.
Suryamin explained that the number of foreign tourists visited Indonesia through 19 main gates stood at 856,400, increasing by 11.99 percent compared to that in May 2015. The rest of them came through other gates.
The BPS also recorded a decline in the number of regular foreign tourists visiting coming through 10 gates. The highest drop occurred in Entikong by 15.59 percent, while the lowest one occurred in Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport at 0.36 percent.
The number of foreign tourists arriving at other gates in May also declined by 34.28 percent compared to last year, from 75,800 to 49,800. The figure also decreased by 24.83 percent when compared to that in April 2016.
Over the last five months, the BPS recorded a total of 4.43 million foreign tourists visiting Indonesia, increasing by 7.48 percent compared to the same period of last year. The total number of foreign tourists arriving at 19 main gates stood at 4.08 million, while that coming from other gates stood at 351,400.
Hotel occupancy rates in 27 provinces in May 2016 also increased averagely to 55.46 percent compared to that in May 2015 at 53.72 percent. Averagely, foreign tourists stayed for 1.75 days in May 2016, decreasing by 0.37 percent compared to that in May 2015.
VINDRY FLORENTIN
