1-10-2024 (JAKARTA) Indonesia’s tourism industry has shown remarkable signs of recovery, with the latest data from Statistics Indonesia revealing a substantial increase in visitor arrivals for August. The country welcomed 1.34 million foreign tourists during the month, marking an impressive 18.3 percent year-on-year growth.
Amalia Widyasanti, the acting chief of Statistics Indonesia, shared these encouraging figures during a press briefing on Tuesday. She highlighted that this upward trend in visitor numbers has been consistent since April, following a brief dip in March.
Malaysia emerged as the leading source of visitors in August, closely followed by Australia and the Chinese mainland. This diverse mix of tourists underscores Indonesia’s broad appeal to travellers from various regions.
The cumulative impact of this growth is even more striking. From January to August 2024, Indonesia has already hosted over 9 million foreign tourists, representing a robust 20.38 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023. Widyasanti noted that this figure stands as the highest since 2020, signalling a strong rebound in the tourism sector.
However, Widyasanti was quick to add a note of perspective, stating, “If we compare it with the same period before the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still relatively lower.” This acknowledgement suggests that while the recovery is significant, there is still ground to cover to reach pre-pandemic levels of tourism.
Looking ahead, Indonesia has set an ambitious target of attracting 17 million foreign tourists in 2024. The popular island destination of Bali is expected to play a crucial role in achieving this goal, with projections suggesting it could contribute around 7 million visitors to the total.
