JAKARTA – Statistics Indonesia (lit. Badan Pusat Statistik/BPS) reported increased foreign tourist visits from January to May 2024. Their visits gradually increase following the subsiding cases of COVID-19.

Hermawanti Marhaeni, Director of Financial Statistics, Technology, Information, and Tourism of BPS, mentioned that the cumulative number of foreign tourist visits in January-May 2024 reaches 5.24 million, up 23.78% year-on-year (yoy). “This number exceeds the number of foreign tourist visits in the same period during the pandemic in 2020 of 2.97 million visits,” she said in the release quoted Monday (1/7).

In May 2024, foreign tourist visits were reported at 1.15 million, 7.36% higher than April 2024’s number, or up 20.11% from May 2023. The top countries visiting Indonesia were Malaysia, followed by Australia and Singapore.

The growth of foreign tourist visit was entailed by increased occupancy rates in hotels in May 2024 to 54.03%, or up 5.01 points from May 2023’s rates or 6.98 points higher from April 2024. (LK/ZH)