Indonesia welcomes highest number of foreign tourists in four years

By VNA May 3, 2024 | 04:17 pm PT

Tourists at a beach in Bali, Indonesia. Photo by AFP

Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded more than 3 million foreign tourist arrivals in the country in the first quarter of 2024.

Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, Acting Head of BPS, said foreign tourist arrivals from January to March increased by 25.43% compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourist arrivals reached 1.04 million, a decrease of 1.91% month-to-month and an increase of 19.86% year-on-year.

Amalia added that the highest proportion of foreign tourists came from Malaysia at 15.4%, followed by Australia 11.9%, Singapore 11.5%, and China 9.1%.

In March, foreign tourist arrivals from Malaysia decreased by 26.51% from the previous month, partly due to the Ramadan season, but still rose 5.13% year-on-year.

Bali remained the most favorite destination among international tourists as its Ngurah Rai Airport welcomed 44.5% of the total visitors to Indonesia.

The number of domestic holidaymakers reached 691,550, an increase of 4.85 % compared to February and 7.45% compared to the same month last year. Malaysia was the main destination for Indonesian tourists, with 29.95%.

It was followed by Singapore (17.26%), Saudi Arabia (16.99%), and Thailand (4.96%).