Jakarta (Xinhua) :
The number of foreign holiday makers in the first three months in Indonesia rose by 6 percent to 2.02 million people on yearly basis, national statistic bureau announced here Wednesday.
Head of the bureau named only Suryamin told a press conference that the number of foreign tourist arrival in March this year was up by 10.13 percent to 725,300 people from that at the same period last year.
He said that the hike was contributed by intensive promotion done by the government.
Indonesia targets 9 million foreign holiday makers in 2013, higher than that of 8.04 million in 2012.
The government is striving to encourage more foreign holiday makers to visit the country by luring more Muslim tourists particularly from the Middle East and boosting health tourism.
Most of the country’s 238 million population are Muslim, with the majority of them moderate. The tourism authorities believed the country has great potential to tap the Muslim tourists.
The country also expects to raise the number of health tourists to 2 million in 2012 from 300 people in 2011, according to Asnawi Bahar, chairman of Indonesian travel agency association (Arsita).
Indonesian tourism industry has recovered from the Asian financial crisis and terrorism attacks in recent years.
source: http://www.news.xinhuanet.com / English.news.cn / Home> Travel / Global Edition / May 01st, 2013
