Targeting 16 Million Foreign Tourist Visits In 2024, Sandiaga Uno: God Willing, It Will Be Exceeded

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) RI Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) targets that the number of foreign tourists (tourists) can reach 16 million visits in 2024 or the same as the conditions before COVID-19.

"In 2024 to 2025, we can achieve this 16 million target with a focus on some of our largest foreign tourist markets, such as Australia, India, China, the UK, the US, and several other top 20 countries," said Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno at the The Weekly Brief with Sandi Uno event in Jakarta, Wednesday, January 3.

Sandiaga added that there are a number of tourist destinations that are expected to bring in foreign tourists, such as in Bali, Jakarta and the Riau Islands (Kepri).

"(The three places) will serve five super priority destinations and five priority tourism destinations. The concept is green tourism and sustainable and quality tourism," he said.

In addition, Sandiaga did not deny that foreign tourist visits in 2023 had exceeded the set target.

The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy itself targets the number of initial foreign tourists visiting to reach 7.4 million, then it is revised to 8.5 million.

"Now there are 10.4 million visits (tourists) and there is still December which we estimate will reach 11 million (visitors). God willing, this will be exceeded," he said.

Meanwhile, continued Sandiaga, the number of domestic tourists (wisnus) itself is still being calculated by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). So, the final results cannot be submitted.

"The calculation and algorithm is being completed by BPS, so we can conclude with the latest calculation that the 1.4 billion (wisnus movement) figure has been exceeded," said Sandiaga.

"However, with a note that the calculation pattern as we are now doing, is about 60 percent of this total potential. We recorded a total of 750 million Wissue movements," he added.

Meanwhile, based on BPS data, from January to November 2023, the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia reached 10.4 million visits.

Although it increased significantly by 110.86 percent compared to the same period last year, the number of foreign tourists visiting was still lower than the pre-pandemic period.