Local authorities had to close Ngurah Rai International Airport for several days in November 2017 due to the eruptions of Mount Agung, the volcano that is located on Bali (the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia). Considering this airport welcomes most foreign tourists (a total of 5.65 million tourists entered Indonesia through Ngurah Rai International Airport), the temporary closure of the airport was a major blow to Indonesia's tourism industry.

I Gde Pitana, Assistant for Overseas Promotion at Indonesia's Tourism Ministry, said Indonesia would have exceeded its foreign visitor arrivals target of 15 million individuals in 2017 provided there was no volcanic activity at Bali's Mount Agung. For example, in the month December alone, tourist arrivals to Bali plunged nearly 30 percent (y/y). Particularly Chinese visitors to this island dropped severely as the Chinese government had rapidly issued a travel warning for Bali. According to reports in local media, visitor arrivals from China started to recover in January 2018.

For the Tourism Industry of Indonesia, the Chinese market is the biggest target because there are more than 100 million outbound Chinese tourists each year. In total Indonesia targets to attract 17 million foreign visitor arrivals in full-year 2018, up 21 percent (y/y) from arrivals realization in 2017.

The Mount Agung eruption on Bali shows that it is important for Indonesia to develop other tourist areas across the Archipelago. If not, income from the tourist industry will - to a high degree - remain dependent on Bali. Currently, Bali accounts for about 40 percent of total foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia. The central government is aware of this issue and is therefore promoting investment in ten priority tourist destinations.

Read more: Tourism Industry Indonesia: Gov't Seeks $20 Billion of Investment

Monthly Foreign Visitor Arrivals in Indonesia:

Month Tourist Arrivals
        2017
January     1,032,930
February      957,583
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)

Discuss