THERE were an estimated 7.6 million overseas visitors to Indonesia in 2011, according to Indonesia Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Mari Elka Pangestu.
Speaking during a year-end press conference, Pangestu said that with 7.6 million arrivals, Indonesia would have achieved an increase of 8.5 per cent over 2010. Tourism contributed US$8.5 billion in 2011, the fifth largest revenue earner for the country, she added.
Data from Statistics Indonesia revealed that there were 6.93 million confirmed arrivals to the country between January and November 2011, up 8.9 per cent over the same period the year before.
This means that 670,000 arrivals were needed in December to reach the 7.6 million figure, which Deputy Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sapta Nirwandar was positive of achieving.
“While it is not as high as the summer season, December is a high season, therefore, arrivals are usually higher than November (which yielded 654,900 visitors),” he explained.
Indonesia is targeting eight million arrivals in 2012 and will focus its marketing efforts on Asia-Pacific source markets (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 6).
“We may not expect arrivals from Europe to be up with the economic crisis there, but we do not expect the market to dip either, as the economy in Germany, the UK and The Netherlands are still okay, while arrivals from severely affected Greece and Spain are relatively small to Indonesia,” said Nirwandar.
