The Government Should Attempt To Attract Foreign Tourists Apart From China

Mount Bromo. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The number of foreign tourist visits (tourists) to Indonesia in 2019 was recorded at 16.11 million. This figure does not reach the government's target of 18 million visits.

Tourism observer from the Bandung Tourism College (STP) Haryadi Darmawan said this was influenced by several things. According to him, tourism is very vulnerable to political, economic and natural disasters.

"In 2019, the most influential thing can be caused by the implementation of the 2019 Presidential Election, because generally political conditions will delay the motivation of foreign tourists," Haryadi told VOI, Tuesday, February 4.

He added, another thing that affects is related to the natural disaster in Lombok, which is located close to Bali as the main destination in Indonesia.

"Another factor is the level of competition in other countries in the Southeast Asia region that offer tourist attractions at more competitive prices, such as in Thailand and Vietnam.

He is also worried that this year the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia will decrease again. The reason is, the factor of the outbreak of the corona virus will clearly affect the level of tourist visits, especially from China. "The decline in tourism activities in Bali has been felt due to the corona virus," he said.

Tourists from China were the third most visited Indonesia last year. According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), foreign tourists from China totaled 2.07 million visits or 12.86 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting the country in 2019.

According to him, what is important now is that the government must focus on attracting tourists from countries other than China in order to get quality tourists. "Information needs to be conveyed openly and honestly that Indonesia is free from the corona virus and this condition can be used by Indonesia in preparing its tourism destinations to be more ready to receive quality tourist visits," he explained.

For information, BPS noted that foreign tourist visits to Indonesia reached 16.11 million throughout 2019. This figure missed the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy's target of 18 million visits. The figure of 18 million visits is a revision of the previous target of 20 million foreign tourists.

"When compared to 2018, there was a slight increase of 1.82 percent from 15.81 million visits, so we still have homework to continue to increase the arrival of foreign tourists to Indonesia," said Head of BPS Suhariyanto in Jakarta, Monday, February 3.

The number of foreign tourists visiting consists of 9.83 million foreign tourists visiting through the airport entrance, 4.16 million sea port entrances, and 2.11 million land road entrances.

As for 2019, foreign tourists who came from the American region had the highest percentage increase, amounting to 14.16 percent compared to the same period the previous year. Meanwhile, foreign tourists visiting from Asia other than ASEAN had the largest percentage decline, amounting to 10.3 percent.

Meanwhile, according to nationality, the most foreign tourists visiting Indonesia during 2019 came from Malaysia with 2.98 million visits (18.51 percent), followed by China with 2.07 million visits (12.86 percent), Singapore 1.93 million visits (12.01 percent), Australia 1.39 million visits (8.61 percent), and Timor Leste 1.18 thousand visits (7.32 percent).