Singapore, Malaysia, And China Became The Most Foreign Tourists To Riau In The Third Quarter Of 2020

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Central Bureau of Statistics recorded that the visit of foreign tourists (tourists) to the Riau Islands Province (Kepri) during September 2020 experienced an increase of 20.86 percent, namely 1,999 visits compared to August 2020 of 1,654 visits.

"However, if compared to September 2019, the number of foreign tourists visiting the Riau Islands fell by 99.13 percent due to COVID-19," said Head of BPS Kepri Agus Sudibyo quoted from Antara, Tuesday, November 3.

He stated that the increase in the number of foreign tourist visits in September 2020 came from two main entrances in the area, namely Batam City, up 22.46 percent and Tanjungpinang City, up by 1.34 percent.

"Meanwhile, Bintan Regency and Karimun Regency have no foreign tourists visiting during April-September 2020," he said.

Cumulatively during the January-September 2020 period, the number of foreign tourists visiting the Riau Islands reached 409,405 visits or decreased by 80.68 percent when compared to the same period in the previous year.

The highest number of foreign tourist visits from January to September 2020 from the entrance included Batam City with 305,390 visits (74.59 percent), followed by Bintan Regency with 63,933 visits (15.62 percent), Karimun Regency with 21,536 visits (5, 26 percent), and Tanjungpinang City with 18,546 visits (4.53 percent).

Meanwhile, Singaporean nationals are still the most tourists visiting the Riau Islands in the January to September 2020 period.

"These Singaporean nationals dominate nearly half (45.07 percent) of the total foreign tourists visiting the Riau Islands," he said.

During January to September 2020, the number of visits by Singaporean nationals was 184,521 visits. The second highest number of visits was foreign tourists with Malaysian nationalities, amounting to 46,888 visits or 11.45 percent of the total visits to the Riau Islands during January-September 2020.

The third largest number of visits were foreign tourists with Chinese nationality, namely 24,612 visits or 6.01 percent of the total visits to the Riau Islands during the same period.

In succession, the highest number of visits after foreign tourists from Singapore, Malaysia and China in the January to September 2020 range were India (4.33 percent), the Philippines (1.91 percent), England (1.61 percent), Japan. (1.44 percent), Australia (1.23 percent), South Korea (1.01 percent), and America (0.98 percent).

"The contribution from the ten foreign tourists is 75.05 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting during January-September 2020," said Agus Sudibyo.