Foreign visitors to Indonesia increased by 17% in the first half of 2008, according to estimates from Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik. The number of visitors was approximately 3.1 million for the first six months of 2008, compared to 2.56 for the same period in 2007.
Additionally, the Minister estimated that tourism brought in some US $3 billion during the first half of the year. Earlier in May, the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics indicated that there had been a 13% increase in tourism for the year to date. Wacik said in an interview in the Indonesia Investor Daily newspaper that the number of visitors is expected to increase by even larger amounts of the second half of the year. The summer and early autumn months are traditional holiday months and are the busiest of the year for the country.
At the beginning of the year, the government of Indonesia initiated the Visit Indonesia Year 2008 program to increase tourism and interest in the country. The target for 2008 is 7 million foreign visitors. That will be a large increase from 2007’s 5.51 million visitors, which was up 13% from the year before. Bali is one of the country’s prime destinations, with the island’s Ngurah Rai airport seeing the highest number of overseas arrivals.
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