JAKARTA - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded that the number of foreign tourist visits to the Riau Islands Province (Kepri) for the January-June 2022 period rose by 5,682.08 percent to 95,173 visits compared to the same period the previous year of 1,646 visits.
"The number of foreign tourists visiting the Riau Islands in the first semester of this year has increased dramatically in line with the improvement in travel mobility and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has an impact on the tourism industry," said Head of the Riau Islands BPS Darwis Sitorus as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, August 1.
Darwis said the highest number of foreign tourist visits from January to June 2022 according to the main entrance, namely Batam City as many as 66,149 visits (69.50 percent), Bintan Regency as many as 21,274 visits (22.35 percent), Tanjungpinang City with 4,572 visits (4.80 percent). percent) and Karimun Regency as many as 3,178 foreign tourist visits (3.34 percent).
Singaporean foreign tourists are still the most frequent tourists visiting the Riau Islands in the period January to June 2022, with 48,681 visits or 51.15 percent of the total foreign tourist visits during that period.
The second highest number of visits was foreign tourists from Malaysia with 11,731 visits or 12.33 percent, then followed by the third highest number of foreign tourists from India with 7,104 visits or 7.46 percent of the total foreign tourist visits during the period.
Sequentially, the highest number of visits after foreign tourists from Singapore, Malaysia and India in the period January to June 2022 were China (3.29 percent), United Kingdom (1.65 percent), Australia (1.59 percent), United States (1 .51 percent), the Philippines (1.28 percent), France (0.87 percent) and Japan (0.75 percent).
"The contribution of foreign tourists from 10 countries is 81.89 percent of the total foreign tourist visits during January-June 2022," he said.
Meanwhile, Head of Tourism Development at the Riau Islands Tourism Office (Kadispar) Afitri Susanti is optimistic that the level of foreign tourist visits will continue to increase following the reopening of access to maritime trips on the Riau Islands route to Malaysia and Singapore.
In addition, according to him, the development of the COVID-19 outbreak in the area also tends to be sloping, where until August 1, 2022 the number of active cases was recorded at only 68 people.
"We assure foreign tourists that Riau Islands is very safe to visit," he said.
On the other hand, continued Afitri, his party has also prepared around 249 tourist agendas this year to attract more foreign tourists to come here.
The tourism activity which is planned to be held in the near future is a moon cake festival in order to enliven the 77th Anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia.
"The plan will be held in two districts, namely Bintan and Lingga," he said.
Before the pandemic, the number of foreign tourist visits to Riau Islands averaged 2 million people per year, making them the top 3 regions with the largest foreign tourist visits in Indonesia besides Bali and Jakarta.
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