Suhariyanto, Head of BPS, said the flow of foreign tourists to Bali, Indonesia's most popular tourist destination, has recovered significantly from the high degree of volcanic activity of Mount Agung (including eruptions) that plagued this island between November 2017 and February 2018. In February 2018 a total of 443,805 foreign visitors were welcomed on Bali (through Ngurah Rai International Airport), up 28.6 percent from visitor arrivals in the preceding month. However, compared to the same month one year ago, foreign tourist arrivals on Bali were down slightly (by 0.97 percent) in February 2018. Besides easing activity of Mount Agung, aggressive discounts are also cited as reason for rising tourist arrivals on Bali.

Most foreign visitors in February 2018 originated from China (214,427), followed by Malaysia (205,855), and Singapore (125,153).

Asnawi Bahar, Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies (ASITA), said the latest data show good growth, especially after the Mount Agung eruption. However, foreign visitor arrivals in Indonesia are still too volatile and therefore he does not expect that the government's target of welcoming 17 million tourists in full-year 2018 can be achieved. It would require monthly tourist arrivals of at least 1.5 million in the remainder of the year to achieve the target, a figure that is simply too high.

Monthly Foreign Visitor Arrivals in Indonesia:

Month Tourist Arrivals
        2017
Tourist Arrivals
        2018
January     1,107,968     1,100,677
February     1,023,388     1,201,059
March     1,066,588
April     1,142,180
May     1,150,067
June     1,111,616
July     1,379,961
August     1,404,664
September     1,213,640
October     1,158,599
November     1,062,030
December     1,147,031
Total    14,039,799

 

Month Tourist Arrivals
        2013
Tourist Arrivals
        2014
Tourist Arrivals
        2015
Tourist Arrivals
        2016
January       614,328       753,079       723,039       814,303
February       678,415       702,666       786,653       888,309
March       725,316       765,607       789,596       915,019
April       646,117       726,332       749,882       901,095
May       700,708       752,363       793,499       915,206
June       789,594       851,475       815,148       857,651
July       717,784       777,210       814,233     1,032,741
August       771,009       826,821       850,542     1,031,986
September       770,878       791,296       869,179     1,006,653
October       719,900       808,767       825,818     1,040,651
November       807,422       764,461       777,976     1,002,333
December       766,966       915,334       913,828     1,113,328
Total      8,802,129      9,435,411      9,729,350    11,519,275


Annual Foreign Visitor Arrivals in Indonesia:

  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Foreign Tourists
(in millions)
 8.80  9.44  9.73 11.52 14.04

 

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

Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)

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