Indonesia Visitor Arrivals Increase 5-Fold in April

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – More than 11,000 tourists have entered Indonesia via its main entry points in April, or up five-fold compared to the same month last year following the reopening of its borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic on Feb. 4.

“Tourist arrivals in April 2022 reached more than 11,000, up five-fold or 499 percent compared to April 2021,” Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno said on Monday, June 13.

Sandiaga said the increase also showed that the tourism sector and creative economy have slowly recovered following the handling of the pandemic and easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
Meanwhile, number of foreign tourist arrivals in March increased by 172 percent. The minister expressed optimism that Indonesia’s tourist arrivals will continue to increase significantly in the following months.

“Indonesia visitor arrivals are dominated by tourists from five countries such as Australia 14 percent, Singapore 11.4 percent, Malaysia 7.8 percent, India 6.1 percent and the UK 5.5 percent,” the minister said.

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“The peak of the tourist arrivals will happen in July and August 2022,” he added.
Meanwhile, the movement of domestic tourists and foreign tourist arrivals during this year’s Idul Fitri holiday reached 550 million and up to 3.6 million, respectively.

The minister is optimistic that the realization of tourism investment can reach $2.5 billion this year.

“Hopefully, once the pandemic is under control, the number of flights to Indonesia, especially Bali, can continue to increase.”

“We are optimistic that the target of tourism activities will be achieved this year, God willing,” said Sandiaga.

The ministry will continue to coordinate with related parties, such as the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, the Ministry of Transportation, as well as international and domestic airlines to increase the frequency of flights to Indonesia, especially Bali.

“We want to explore opportunities to open new routes such as Wakatobi, Belitung, and other routes that now require additional flights,” he said.

However, the number of aircraft is still limited due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Currently, about 350 aircraft operating from 550 as the companies carry out revitalization. We need to deal with this because many are still undergoing maintenance,” he explained.

(Writer: Kiki Safitri | Editor: Yoga Sukmana)

Source: https://money.kompas.com/read/2022/06/14/143400926/sandiaga-uno--kunjungan-wisatawan-mancanegara-naik-lima-kali-lipat.