Most Of The Foreign Tourists To Indonesia In February Came From Timor Leste

Indonesia's border with Timor Leste. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Tourism is one of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the outbreak of the virus from Wuhan, China, the government decided to close access for foreign tourists (tourists). As a result, based on BPS data, the visits of foreign tourists have plummeted to more than 80 percent.

Deputy for Distribution and Services Statistics, BPS Setianto, said the number of foreign tourists visiting in February was recorded at 117,000 visits. This number decreased by 14.74 percent from January 2021 which reached 137,200 people and decreased by 86.59 percent from February 2020 which recorded 872,800 foreign tourists.

"When compared to the same period last year, it is still down. Because, in February last year the number of foreign tourists was still quite high even though it fell, because it was still the beginning of COVID-19," he said in a virtual press conference, Thursday, April 1.

Cumulatively, from January to February 2021, said Setianto, the number of foreign tourist visits reached 254.23 thousand visits or decreased by 88.25 percent when compared to the number of foreign tourists visiting in the same period in 2020 which totaled 2.16 million visits.

Setianto said, BPS recorded that the number of foreign tourist arrivals in February 2021 was dominated by Timor Leste as many as 59,800 visits or 51.1 percent.

"These (foreign tourists) are mostly border crossers. Then, the second largest came from Malaysia with a percentage of 32 percent of visits or recorded 37,500 visits in February 2021," he said.

Then, China with a percentage of 2.5 percent or 3,000 foreign tourists. Furthermore, there is Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands with a respective contribution of 2.14 percent and 1.82 percent.

Meanwhile, the largest correction in foreign tourist visits came from Mexico, namely 99.41 percent, New Zealand 99.54 percent and Australia 99.73 percent on an annual basis or year on year (yoy).

Setianto said that when viewed through the entrance, most of the foreign tourists entered by land, as many as 75,300 visits and the equivalent of 64 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting that month.

"From the sea route, there are 34,600 foreign tourists or 30 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting. Meanwhile from the air route only 7,100 or only 6 percent of the total visits," he said.