As usual, most foreign tourists entered Indonesia through the Ngurah Rai International Airport on the island of Bali, the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia. In January 2015, a total of 288,755 foreigners arrived at this airport, a 3.61 percentage point growth from the same month last year. Tourist arrivals in the second-largest point of entry, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport located just outside the capital city of Jakarta, fell 11.42 percent to 165,746 tourists in January 2015.

Main Points of Entry Foreign Tourists in Indonesia:

Location  January 2014  January 2015
Ngurah Rai Airport (Bali)        278,685        288,755
Soekarno-Hatta Airport (Jakarta)        187,123        165,746
Batam        119,054        114,478

Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)

Nearly 15 percent of total foreign tourists that entered Indonesia in January 2015 were Singaporeans, followed by Australians (12.72 percent), Malaysians (12.59 percent), Chinese (12.49 percent) and South Koreans (5.32 percent). It remains unknown whether the current tense diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Australia will lead to a reduction of Australian tourist arrivals in 2015. Last month the Australian government suggested it may boycott Indonesia, for example by discouraging Australians to go on holiday in Bali (this island is a popular tourist destination for Australian tourists), in a reaction to Indonesia’s commitment to its plan to execute two Australian citizens who are currently on death row in Indonesia on drug charges. In 2014 a total of one million Australians visited Indonesia.

Regarding foreign tourist arrivals in 2015, Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya previously stated to target to welcome 10 million foreign visitors to Indonesia, collecting a total of USD $12.05 billion in foreign exchange earnings as each tourist is expected to spend an average of USD $1,200 per visit. Meanwhile, the number of domestic tourists is estimated to reach 254 million in 2015 (spending a combined USD $16 billion in total). To meet these targets, Minister Yahya said that the Indonesian government will focus on improving the country’s infrastructure (including ICT infrastructure), health & hygiene and accessibility as well as enhance online promotional (marketing) campaigns abroad.

Last year, Indonesia welcomed a record high 9.44 million foreign tourist arrivals, up 7.19 percent from 8.8 million tourists in the preceding year.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia, 2013-2015:

Month  Tourist Arrivals
         2013
 Tourist Arrivals
         2014
 Tourist Arrivals
         2015
January        614,328        753,079        723,039
February        678,415        702,666
March        725,316        765,607
April        646,117        726,332
May        700,708        752,363
June        789,594        851,475
July        717,784        777,210
August        771,009        826,821
September        770,878        791,296
October        719,900        808,767
November        807,422        764,461
December        766,966        915,334
Total       8,802,129       9,435,411        723,039

Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)

Foreign Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia, 2007-2015:

    2007   2008   2009   2010   2011   2012   2013   2014  2015
Foreign Tourists
(in millions)
  5.51   6.23   6.32   7.00   7.65   8.04   8.80   9.44  10.0¹

¹ indicates government target
Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)


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