JAKARTA – The visits of international tourists from Malaysia are responsible for 16.2% of 2.24 total visits throughout Q1 2023. These visits have significantly increased compared to the same period last year, even reaching close to the number of international tourist visits prior to COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on Statistics Indonesia (lit. Badan Pusat Statistik/BPS) data quoted Tuesday (2/5), the number of Malaysian tourists visits to Indonesia clocked up to 364,149 visits, followed by other 12.6% from Singapore, 12.5% from Australia, and 8.5% from East Timor.

The tourist visits in Q1 2023 skyrocketed 508.9% from the same period in 2022 of 369,180 visits. This number grew as the community activities restriction policy was relaxed and lifted following the improvement of COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.

However, the number of international tourist visits in Q1 2023 was still below the tourist visit in Q1 2020 that reached 2.64 million, as well as Q1 2019 of 3.75 million visits. Throughout 2020 and 2019, international tourists had made 4.05 million and 16.10 million visits in total. (LK/ZH)