THERE were 3,597,632 visitors to Indonesia over the first six months of 2011, a 6.42 per cent increase over the same period last year, according to the Central Board of Statistics of Indonesia (BPS). Regionally, Bali experienced robust arrivals growth, while Jakarta posted a slight decrease in visitor numbers.
The Bali Statistics Agency (BPS Bali) recorded 1,303,609 arrivals to Bali in the first half of the year, a 10.56 per cent increase over the 1,180,118 visitors recorded during the same period last year.
Travellers from Australia contributed 26.73 per cent of total arrivals to Bali. “Australia showed a significant growth in arrivals, the highest among the top ten markets,” said BPS Bali head, I Gede Suarsa.106,400 visitors were from China, up 8.29 per cent over last year’s 98,258; Malaysian visitor numbers grew from 69,251 to 83,491, an increase of 20.56 per cent.
Meanwhile, arrivals to Jakarta decreased from 935,673 to 911,021, a drop of 2.63 per cent.
BPS data also showed that there were 5,262,800 outbound air passengers from Indonesia over the first half of the year, up 17.08 per cent over the same period last year.
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport recorded the highest outbound traffic with 2,656,200 passengers, 50.47 per cent of the total. This was 20 per cent more than last year’s 2,213,700 passengers.
Bali’s Denpasar International Airport came second with 1,432,600 passengers, contributing 27.22 per cent of total outbound traffic. This was a 7.95 per cent increase over the first six months of 2010, when there were 1,327,100 passengers recorded.
