Tourism in Indonesia: 9.3 Million Foreign Visitors Expected in 2014
Statistics Indonesia announced on Friday morning (02/01) that a total of 764,461 foreign tourists visited Indonesia in November 2014, down 5.32 percent from foreign visitor arrivals in the same month last year. Cumulatively, a total of 8.52 million tourists have visited Indonesia in the January-November 2014 period, up 7.29 percent from the same period in 2013. Arief Yahya, Indonesia’s Tourism Minister, is optimistic that this year’s target of welcoming 9.3 million foreign visitors - spending a total of USD $10.69 billion - will be achieved.
As usual, most foreign visitors entered Indonesia in Bali (Ngurah Rai International Airport), Jakarta (Soekarno-Hatta International Airport) and Batam.
Main Points of Entry Foreign Tourists:
| Location | November 2013 | November 2014 | Jan - Oct 2013 | Jan - Oct 2014 |
| Ngurah Rai Airport (Bali) | 296,990 | 293,858 | 2,948,928 | 3,390,624 |
| Soekarno-Hatta Airport (Jakarta) | 199,511 | 180,208 | 2,051,497 | 2,055,839 |
| Batam | 123,835 | 123,505 | 1,182,633 | 1,282,203 |
Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)
Next year, Yahya targets to welcome a total of 10 million foreign visitors, thereby collecting USD $12.05 billion in foreign exchange income from the tourism sector as each foreign tourist is expected to spend USD $1,200 per visit. Meanwhile, the number of domestic tourists is estimated to reach 254 million in 2015 (spending USD $16 billion in total), three million more than this year’s estimated figure.
To attract more foreign tourists, Yahya said that the government will focus on improving infrastructure (including ICT infrastructure), health & hygiene and accessibility as well as online promotional (marketing) campaigns.
By 2019 Indonesia’s tourism sector is targeted to contribute 8 percent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) from 4 percent this year.
Foreign Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia - 2013-2014:
| Month | Tourist Arrivals 2013 |
Tourist Arrivals 2014 |
| January | 614,328 | 753,079 |
| 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 | |
| Total | 8,802,129 | 8,520,077 |
Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)
Foreign Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia - 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 | 9.25 |
¹ indicates government target
Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)