INDONESIA welcomed 3,180,779 tourist arrivals from January till May, an 8.81 per cent increase over the same period last year.
This number exceeded the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy’s target of 3,160,000 arrivals.
Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, said: “The growth in arrivals is good news, given the uncertain global economic situation. With this trend, we are optimistic that we will be able to reach our target of eight million arrivals and US$9 billion in revenue this year.”
Arrival figures from Japan were particularly buoyant during the first five months of 2012, registering 12.01 per cent year-on-year growth for the month of May. This comes after several consecutive years of moderate if not negative growth from the Japanese market.
Pangestu said the resurgent demand from Japan could have been stimulated by the introduction of Garuda Indonesia’s five-weekly Tokyo (Haneda) – Bali (Denpasar) flights in April, as well as Japan’s gradual recovery after the tsunami.
