Indonesia’s January Tourist Arrivals Down on Chinese New Year
Foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia declined 3.99 percent year-on-year (y/y) to 723,039 tourists in January 2015 according to data from Statistics Indonesia released on Monday (02/03). The primary reason for this decline is that - this year - Chinese New Year fell in February, whereas last year this event fell in January thus boosting foreign tourist arrivals in January 2014. Therefore, it is expected that tourist arrivals in February 2015 will climb sharply neutralizing the decline in the previous month.
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)
