The growth from 8.04 million to 8.8 million foreign tourists, which exceeded the government's target, was attributed to successful tourism promotional activities abroad as well as several big international events that were held over the past year (for example the APEC conference in Bali).

The most important points of entry in 2013 were still Bali, Jakarta and Batam. More than 6.81 million foreign tourists entered Indonesia in one of these three locations.

Of the average amount of USD $1,142 that a foreign tourist spends during his holiday in Indonesia, 48.9 percent is allocated to accomodation expenses, 17.7 percent to food and drinks, and 7.9 percent to souvenirs.

Meanwhile, domestic tourism is also growing. In 2013, 245 million domestic tourist trips were organized, an increase of 1.21 percent from the previous year. On average, a domestic tourist spends IDR 711,000 (USD $58.3) per trip.

Between 2007 and 2013, foreign tourists numbers are showing an increasing trend (see table below). This is partly due to a reduction in terrorist incidents aimed at western targets. A series of terrorist attacks between 2002 and 2005 caused the growth in foreign tourists to stagnate, while the attack on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton in 2009 led to limited foreign tourism growth in 2009. In the last four years, however, there have been no terrorist incidents directed at foreign targets.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals in 2013:

Month Tourist Arrivals
January       614,328
February       678,415
March       725,316
April       646,117
May       700,708
June       789,594
July       717,784
August       771,009
September       770,878
October       719,900
November       807,422
December       766,966
Total      8,802,129

Foreign Tourists Arrivals 2007-2014:

    2007   2008   2009   2010   2011   2012   2013   2014¹
Foreign Tourists
(in millions)
  5.51   6.23   6.32   7.00   7.65   8.04    8.80   10.00

¹ indicates government target
Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)

Further Reading:

Overview of Tourism by Statistics Indonesia
Analysis and Overview of Terrorism in Indonesia

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