Tourism in Indonesia: Foreign Tourist Arrivals in 2015 slightly Short of Target
Indonesia was visited by 6.3 million foreign tourists in the first eight months of 2015, up 2.7 percent (y/y) from the same period last year. However, foreign visitor arrivals on Bali, the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia, fell 11.3 percent (y/y) in August due to the temporary closure of Bali's Ngurah Rai international airport as Mount Raung (located in East Java) spew volcanic ash into the sky. This led to a sharp drop in Australian tourists entering Bali.
In August 2015, a total of 850,542 foreigners visited Indonesia, up 2.87 percent from the same month last year. According to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Egyptian tourists grew by a remarkable 25.5 percent (y/y), while the number of Chinese visitors grew 25.0 percent, and Singaporean visitor growth rose 23.3 percent.
Considering the period January-August 2015, the highest growth in foreign tourist arrivals originated from China (20.7 percent), followed by Egypt (12.2 percent), Britain (10.2 percent), India (10.2 percent), and the United States (2.5 percent).
However, foreign tourist arrival growth in Indonesia in the first eight months of 2015 was slightly below the global and regional trend. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, global tourism grew four percent in the January-August 2015 period, while tourism growth in the Asia Pacific region recorded a four percent increase and three percent in Southeast Asia.
Despite containing plenty of beautiful natural scenery, historic places and cultural centers, Indonesia still lags behind its neighboring countries in terms of tourist arrivals. Whereas Malaysia and Singapore manage to attract around 27 million and 15 million foreign tourists per year, respectively, Indonesia only welcomed 9.4 million foreigners in 2014.
In 2015 Indonesia targets to attract 10 million foreign tourists. Given that 6.3 million foreigners visited Indonesia in the January-August 2015 period, the country may just fall short of achieving the target. Next year the government targets to welcome 12 million foreign visitor arrivals and by 2019 the government wants to see an annual 20 million foreigners to visit Indonesia. In order to achieve these targets, the Indonesian government waived visa requirements for an additional 45 countries per 10 June 2015. Hence a total of 90 countries are currently eligible to visit Indonesia for a maximum period of 30 days without visa requirements.
Between 13 and 16 October Jakarta is to host the annual Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME) in the Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel.
Indonesia is currently promoting Indonesia as a tourist destination through an exhibition of photos and videos (the "Wonderful Indonesia" campaign) in terminal three of Singapore's Changi Airport (the event runs through 11 October 2015). This airport, one of the world's busiest hubs and the world's best airport according to Skytrax, serves about 135,000 daily air passengers.
Foreign Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia, 2013-2015:
| Month | Tourist Arrivals 2013 |
Tourist Arrivals 2014 |
Tourist Arrivals 2015 |
| January | 614,328 | 753,079 | 723,039 |
| February | 678,415 | 702,666 | 786,653 |
| March | 725,316 | 765,607 | 789,596 |
| April | 646,117 | 726,332 | 749,882 |
| May | 700,708 | 752,363 | 793,499 |
| June | 789,594 | 851,475 | 815,148 |
| July | 717,784 | 777,210 | 814,233 |
| August | 771,009 | 826,821 | 850,542 |
| September | 770,878 | 791,296 | |
| October | 719,900 | 808,767 | |
| November | 807,422 | 764,461 | |
| December | 766,966 | 915,334 | |
| Total | 8,802,129 | 9,435,411 | 6,322,592 |
Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)
Foreign Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia, 2007-2015:
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
| Foreign Tourists (in millions) |
5.51 | 6.23 | 6.32 | 7.00 | 7.65 | 8.04 | 8.80 | 9.44 | 10.0¹ |
¹ indicates government target
Source: Statistics Indonesia (BPS)
