Foreign tourists leaving sooner

Foreign tourist arrivals rose 18.93 percent in year-on-year terms in January to 652,692 people, up from 548,800 in the same month last year, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).But seasonal factors saw foreign tourist arrivals fall 9.91 percent from December to January, the BPS said. 

“The decline from December to January is nothing unusual. The decline was mainly because of seasonal factors. December has always been a peak season for tourism while January is low season,” BPS chairman Suryamin said during a press conference at his office on Thursday. 

The agency also recorded a decline in the length of the foreign tourists’ stay to an average 2.03 days in January, from 2.04 days in the same month last year.The year-on-year increase of tourist numbers was seen in almost all main entry points.

Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado, North Sulawesi, recorded the highest rise in foreign tourist entries in January, up 74 percent on the same period last year. Raja Haji Fisabilillah International Airport in Tanjung Pinang, Riau Islands, saw a 53.76 percent increase in the same period.Some arrival halls recorded lower foreign tourist entries, with Sepinggan Airport in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, seeing numbers fall by 14.61 percent on a year-on-year basis.Bali remains the most popular destination for foreign tourists.

Ngurah Rai International Airport recorded 249,728 foreign tourists entering Bali in January. Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta and Hang Nadim International Airport in Batam saw 156,654 and 102,630 foreign tourists enter the country in the same month respectively.

Bali is also the only out of the top three main gates that recorded higher foreign tourist visits in January compared to the previous month.Last December, 248,336 foreigners visited Bali, while Jakarta and Batam recorded 162,787 and 130,158 foreign visits respectively.

The increase in tourist visits also affects hotel occupancy rates.The BPS recorded that occupancy rates rose 0.80 points to 51.27 percent in January compared to the same period last year. Compared to last December, the rates fell by 4.30 percentage points.

“In January 2012, the highest occupancy rate took place in Central Sulawesi with 63.73 percent, followed by Bali and Yogyakarta with 62.01 percent and 57.65 percent respectively,” Suryamin said.Yogyakarta also recorded the highest occupancy rate increase with 20.25 percentage points.“The lowest occupancy rate in January 2012 was in Riau Islands with 40.54 percent,” Suryamin said.

Tourism expert Johnnie Sugiarto said that the decline in the average length of stay represented the nationalities of visitors.“Most of our foreign tourists are from the Asia-Pacific region. They tend to have shorter lengths of stay compared to tourists from the United States or from other regions,” Johnnie told The Jakarta Post.

The latest data from the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry showed that Malaysians, Singaporeans, Australians, Chinese and Japanese were the most common foreign tourists.The ministry aims increase the foreign tourism numbers to 8 million this year, up from 7.65 million recorded in 2011.

Source - thejakartapost