PRELIMINARY estimates have pegged tourist arrivals to Indonesia at 8.7 million in 2013, marking a record high and surpassing the targeted 8.6 million.
Mari Elka Pangestu, minister of tourism and creative economy, said the figure was based on latest data from Indonesia’s Central Board of Statistics, which showed that arrivals between January and November totalled 7.9 million, up 9.1 per cent over the same period in 2012.
“Assuming that the growth in arrivals in December 2013 was similar to that of the same period in 2012 at 0.5 per cent, there would be an additional 771,024 arrivals. Therefore, we are confident that total arrivals will hit a new record of 8.7 million,” Mari said.
The figure will be available in early February.
According to the minister, visitor expenditure last year was US$1,142 per visit and revenue from tourism is estimated to reach US$9.9 billion, or 8.2 per cent higher than in 2012.
Domestic tourist movements last year numbered approximately 248 million with an average spend of Rp711,000 (US$58.40) per trip.
“Looking at GDP and manpower statistics, the contribution of the tourism and creative economy sector is getting more promising,” Mari noted. Tourism contributed Rp347.4 trillion or 3.9 per cent of the economy, while 10.2 million people are engaged in tourism-related fields of work, making up 8.9 per cent of Indonesia’s total workforce.
Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia, has reported that tourism notched 6.5 per cent in GDP growth up to 3Q2013, higher than the national growth of 5.8 per cent.
“Year 2014 is looking good. We are targeting an increase of seven to 7.5 per cent to reach 9.2 million international arrivals,” she said.
