Southeast Asia's largest economy welcomes over 10 million foreign tourists

By VNA November 3, 2024 | 04:38 pm PT

Foreign tourists on Bali Island in Indonesia. Photo by AFP

The number of foreign visitors to Indonesia exceeded 10 million as of September, inching closer to the full-year target of 14 million, according to the country's Central Statistics Agency.

From January to September, international arrivals rose by 20.28% year-on-year, totaling 10.37 million.

However, the figure remains below pre-pandemic levels. By the same period in 2019, the country had recorded over 12 million foreign tourist arrivals.

In September alone, Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, welcomed 1.28 million foreign tourists, a year-on-year rise of 19.53% but a 4.5% decrease from August.

Neighboring countries Malaysia, Australia, China, and Singapore remain among the largest contributors to Indonesia’s international visitor numbers.

The average spending per foreign tourist was recorded at US$1,375 per visit.

The Central Statistics Agency's Acting Head Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said that this amount is lower than the previous quarter’s average foreign tourist spending of $1,443.

In addition to foreign arrivals, domestic tourism has seen a surge, with 757.96 million trips by local tourists in the nine months leading up to September, marking a 21% increase from the same period last year.

The hotel occupancy rate for January through September averaged 51.33%, reflecting a recovery in the tourism sector from the impacts of the Covid pandemic.