The largest Buddhist Temple in the world, Borobudur Temple, located in Yogyakarta, Central Java. (Image credit Trip Canvas Indonesia)

Statistics Indonesia: Foreign tourists are mostly from Malaysia and China

As the world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia is well known for its beautiful panoramas. No wonder the country becomes one of the most favorite destinations for foreign travelers.

According to the Central Statistics Agency of Indonesia (BPS), the number of foreign tourists in Indonesia from January to June 2019 reached 7.83 million visitors, which was an increase from 7.53 million tourists during the same periods last year.

Foreign tourists are mostly coming from Malaysia with around 20.47 percent of Malaysian (1.60 Million people) visiting Indonesia since early January to mid-2019, reported BPS on Thursday.

Following the neighbor country, the world’s largest nation China is the next country to increase the number of Indonesia’s foreign tourists. BPS reported 1.05 million Chinese travelers (13.43 percent) had visited the country starting from January to June this year.

Indonesia government is currently working hard to boost the tourism industry, including developing infrastructures and providing basic utilities to give easy access for tourists. Bali, the most popular tourist's destination in Indonesia, will compete with other cities in the country since the local governments are now eager to create their regions as “New Bali”.

The country’s biggest lake, Lake Toba (Sumatra) and the world’s biggest Buddhist temple, Borobudur temple (Yogyakarta) along with Mandalika (West Nusa Tenggara) and Labuan Bajo (East Nusa Tenggara) are prepared to be world-class tourist destinations and the “New Bali”.

Indonesia government said the “New Bali” project will be completed in 2020. The “New Bali” is expected can level up the number of tourist arrivals in Indonesia.

According to BPS, the number of foreign visitors arrivals to Indonesia in June 2019 increased by 9.94 compared to mid-2018.

In addition to Malaysia and China, foreign tourists in Indonesia are also from Australia, Singapore, and Timor Leste.

Source: https://en.antaranews.com/news/130276/most-foreign-tourists-to-indonesia-from-malaysia-bps