Passengers are required to pass a thermal scanner as they arrive in Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali. (Photo: https://www.thejakartapost.com/)Jakarta (VNA) - The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia sharply fell by64.11 percent year on year to 470,898 in March, as the coronavirus disease(COVID-19) pandemic has hindered holidaymakers from traveling, the IndonesianNational Agency of Statistics (BPS) announced on May 4.
In the first quarter of 2020, international visitors to Indonesia numbered only2.61 million, down 30.62 percent compared to the same period in 2019. In March,the occupancy rate of hotels was only 32.24 percent, down 20.64 percent year onyear and 16.98 percent month on month. The average length of stay was 1.83days, up slightly by 0.02 percent.
According to the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), the country'stourism industry lost at least 1.5 billion USD in the first quarter due to the impactof the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the total, about 1.1billion USD came as a result of cancelations made by tourists from China andthe remaining 400 million USD by visitors from other countries.
PHRI ChairmanHariyadi B. Sukamdani said the local tourism industry is yet to benefit muchfrom a 10.3 trillion Rp (more than 710 million USD) tourism stimulus packagelaunched by the Government in February.
Earlier,on April 16, Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy WishnutamaKusubandio cut the foreign tourist arrivaltarget in 2020 from 16 million to 5 million due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Revenuefrom foreign visitors was also revised down by more than half from the 20billion USD achieved last year./.
VNA
