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Foreign tourist arrivals in the first eleven months of last
year declined by 4.6 percent from the same period the previous year,
according to latest Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data.
The number of foreign tourists entering the country from January to
November 2006 dropped to 3,589,115 from 3,762,177 a year earlier, BPS
director Rusman Heriawan told a press briefing Tuesday.
While the BPS did not give any explanations for the drop, Culture and
Tourism Minister Jero Wacik recently said that natural disasters, as
well as fears of avian flu, were some of the reasons that had
contributed to the decline in the number of tourists this year.
On a monthly basis, however, the BPS reported a 39.8 percent rise in
the number of foreign tourists in November to 356,026, as compared with
the same month last year. The November figure also increased by 25.7
percent compared with the October figure of 290,316.
The government has set a target of 5.5 million foreign tourist arrivals
this year, whom it is hoped will bring in Rp 45 trillion (US$5 billion)
in foreign exchange earnings.
The ministry has predicted that the country will likely earn $4.38
billion from overseas tourists in 2006, including the December figure.
The equivalent figure stood at $4.5 billion in 2005.
Unlike the foreign-tourist figures, the number of domestic tourists is
steadily growing, with the number expected to hit 115 million people in
2006, spending a total of Rp 78.6 trillion, representing 1.5 percent
growth over last year's Rp 77.5 trillion.
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