A religious structure on Bali island, one of main tourist destinations in Indonesia. (Source: Internet)Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia is confident of achieving its yearly target of welcoming 10 million international visitors by the end of 2015 despite the reduced arrivals in Sumatra and Kalimantan caused by forest fires and haze pollution.
According to the Indonesian Central Agency on Statistics (BPS), in the January-September period, the country welcomed 7.9 million international tourists, a 3.53 percent increase against the same period last year.
Nearly 870,000 international holiday-makers enjoyed their holidays in Indonesia in September alone, up 10 percent from 2014 and 2.2 percent from August.
The Head of the BPS, Suryamin, said the visa-exemption policy for additional 40 countries is the reason behind the strong growth of foreign tourists to Indonesia.
If the trend sustains in the remaining months, Indonesia believes it could achieve the goal of attracting 10 million international tourists in 2015.
Singaporean tourists account for the biggest proportion of international visitors to Indonesia with 14.3 percent, followed by Malaysia, Australia (12 percent), China (11.7 percent) and Japan (6.2 percent).
Bali continues being an appealing destination for international tourists with a growth of 4.27 percent in September, signaling the return of tourists after a temporary closure of the Ngurah Rai international airport caused by the eruption of volcano Raung in East Java in July.
Other attraction sites like Yogyakarta, Jakarta, West Kalimantan, all have seen an increase in the number of tourists.
The Indonesian government established the goal of attracting 12 million international tourists in 2016 and one of strategic measures towards this goal is to exempt visa for another 45 countries by the end of 2015, bringing the number of countries enjoying Indonesia’s 30-day visa exemption policy to 90.-VNA
