REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia had been visited by 6.3 million foreign tourists from January to August 2015.
Minister of Tourism, Arief Yahya, said that in cumulative number, foreign tourists who visited Indonesia during January to August this year reached 6,322,592 people. It increased by 2.71 percent compared with the same period last year.
While the number of foreign tourists in Indonesia during August 2015 were recorded reached 850,542 people or grew by 2.87 percent compared with the same period last year.
Central Bureau of Statistics and Deputy Assistant of Tourism Policy Research and Development of Ministry of Tourism in August 2015 showed that foreign tourists visits from Egypt rose to 25.51 percent, foreign tourists visits from China rose to 24.97 percent, foreign tourists visits from Singapore rose to 23.28 percent, foreign tourists visits from Taiwan increased to 16.68 percent, and foreign tourists visits from the United Kingdom also increased to 11.50 percent.
Cumulatively, during January to August 2015, the highest growth in tourist arrivals was from China (20.74 percent), followed by Egypt (12.21 percent), Britain (10.22 percent), India (10.16 percent), and United States (2.48 percent).
Arief added, the number of Chinese tourists who visited Indonesia from January to August reached a total of 779,348 people. During August, the Chinese tourists entered Indonesia through Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali (22.20 percent), Soekarno-Hatta in Tangerang (13.44 percent) and Batam (3.52 percent).
"The number of tourists that enter through the Great Batam was still dominated by foreign tourists from Singapore and Malaysia. Each were as much as 79,459 and 16,770 foreign tourists or 59.06 percent and 12.46 percent," he said, in Jakarta, Monday (5/10).