Foreign Tourists Visit to Indonesia Through Karimun Drop 100 Percent Caused by Covid-19

TRIBUNBATAM.id, BATAM - Head of Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of Republic Indonesia, Suhariyanto, said that the overall visit of foreign tourists to Indonesia dropped due to the impact of Corona virus or Covid-19.

He said this in a virtual press conference on Wednesday (1/7/2020).

"Based on the main entrance of airplane transportation modes, BPS recorded a decrease in the number of foreign tourists at three major airports nearly touching 100 percent.

"The number of foreign tourists at Soekarno Hatta Airport has dropped 99.75 percent annually and 5.28 percent monthly," he said.

Then, the decline in the number of foreign tourists at Ngurah Rai Airport dropped per cent annually and 87.55 per cent monthly. Likewise with Juanda Airport, it dropped 99.92 percent annually and 42.86 percent monthly.

The decrease in the number of foreign tourists is also felt at the main door of sea transportation mode.

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For example, Tanjung Balai Karimun Port, Riau Islands fell 100 percent annually and monthly.

According to him, only Batam Port still showed an increase in the number of tourists on a monthly basis by 58.69 percent, even though on an annual basis it fell 98.76 percent.

"Tourists who come to Batam are foreign tourists from Malaysia, but overall the performance of tourists is indeed affected once because of Covid-19," he said.

While the number of foreign tourists on land, dropped 100 percent annually in Atambua, 99.84 percent in Entikong, and 97.34 percent in Aruk.

Based on the portion, the contribution of foreign tourists via land reached 70.1 percent of the total foreign tourists.

While foreign tourists from the sea route 29.6 percent and airways 0.3 percent.

Based on country of origin, the highest decrease in the number of foreign tourists coming from Kuwait and Yemen reached 100 percent on an annual basis.

Then, French tourists to Indonesia fell 99.36 percent, Papua New Guinea 80.43 percent, Malaysia 73.84 percent and Timor Leste 17.05 percent.

On a monthly basis, the number of foreign tourists from Singapore fell 35.66 percent, Japan 35.61 percent, and Australia 26.43 percent.

"But there are still some foreign tourists who come to Indonesia from South Africa, although the numbers are small. Likewise from the Netherlands and Canada, although absolute number is only a few people, not too large," he explained.

Cumulatively, the number of foreign tourists coming to the country was 2.92 million in January-May 2020. That number dropped by 53.36 percent compared to January-May 2019.

Going forward, Suhariyanto sees that the number of foreign tourists will still be low because the activities and mobility of people in various countries have not really returned to normal conditions.

Therefore, the national tourism sector is likely to rely more on domestic tourists. "If the domestic have seen a number of entertainment venues began to open," he said.

(tribunbatam.id/Leo Halawa)

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