Indonesia sees increase in foreign tourist arrivals,with China ranking 3rd as source of holidaymakers

Indonesia's foreign tourist arrivals saw a 14.45 percent rise in April from a year earlier, after increasing 8.96 percent in the previous month, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday.[Photo by Wang Mingming/Asianewsphoto]

The Indonesian government is robustly campaigning to expand tourism in Southeast Asia's largest economy as it targets to attract 20 million foreign tourists annually by 2019.

Last year alone, around 9.73 million holidaymakers visited the archipelago. That is still lower compared to Indonesia's neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand who each have attracted over 20 million international tourists.

The government has waived tourist visa requirements for foreign nationals from 169 nations as a bid to achieve the target.

Indonesia expects the arrivals of holiday makers from China to jump to 2.1 million people this year from 1.3 million last year.