The Ministry Of Tourism And Creative Economy Reveals The Cause Of The Decreased Number Of Tourist Visits In January 2024: Seasonal Factors

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) revealed that the cause of the decline in the number of foreign tourist visits (tourists) to Indonesia in January 2024.

Adyatama Kepariwisata dan Ekonomi Kreatif Ahli Utama Kemenparekraf Nia Niscaya mengatakan, penurunan tingkat kunjungan Wisman di Januari 2024 merupakan faktor musiman.

This is because foreign tourists have spent their vacation during Christmas and New Year (Nataru) and are back to their routine after the holidays.

"I think the decline is rationality. So, in the tourism industry, it really knows the season and in January the season has dropped," Nia said at The Weekly Brief with Sandi Uno in Jakarta, Monday, March 4.

Nia said, based on a report from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the number of foreign tourists who came to Indonesia reached 927,750 visits in January 2024.

This number decreased by 18.94 percent on a monthly basis or month on month (mtm) compared to December 2023, which recorded 1.14 million visits.

Even so, on an annual basis, the level of foreign tourist visits increased 16.19 percent year on year (yoy) in January 2024. In fact, it became the highest post-COVID-19.

Foreign tourists visiting in January 2021 recorded 126,520 visits. This number has decreased compared to January 2020 which recorded 1.29 million visits. Given, Indonesia was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic at that time.

The rate of foreign tourist visits slightly increased to 121,160 in January 2022. Then, the level of visits also increased to 798,470 visits in January 2023, as tourism recovered globally after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, said Nia, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy itself has prepared a number of strategic steps to boost the number of foreign tourists this year. One of them is by introducing Indonesian tourism in the international arena.

"This strategy depends on, for example, for those who are marketing in offline form, we are present at the Berlin Travel Mart. It was the biggest event in the world in March, I think the delegation was already there," he added.