Indonesia's Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno said the country welcomed nearly 5.5 million international tourists in 2022, up 251.28% from 2021, higher than the 5.2 million announced last month and the target of 3.6 million.
Speaking at a weekly press conference on February 6, Minister Sandiaga said the archipelago nation welcomed a total of 895,120 international tourists in December 2022, an increase of 447.08% over the same period in 2021 and 36.19% over the previous month.
According to Mr. Sandiaga, in December 2022 alone, the number of international tourists from Singapore achieved the highest increase of 20.15%, followed by Malaysia, up 17.98%, Australia up 11.42%, Timor Leste up 8.4% and India up 5.61%.
Indonesia welcomes nearly 5.5 million international tourists in 2022
Meanwhile, the booking rate at star-rated hotels reached 56.9%, an increase of 5.33% compared to December 2021.
To increase the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia, Minister Sandiaga has called on travel agencies and airlines to offer more creative tour packages, as well as increase direct flights.
Mr. Sandiaga also revealed the tourism promotion campaign in overseas markets as well as on digital platforms, especially the “5 super priority destinations” or “5 new Balis,” which include Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Borobudur Temple in Central Java, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara, Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara, and Likupang in North Sulawesi.
In parallel, Indonesia will focus on the “Indonesia Tourism Pride” program with the goal of attracting 1.4 billion domestic tourists in 2023, as well as “reversing” the trend of Indonesians traveling abroad through cooperative and creative methods.
In 2023, the Indonesian tourism industry aims to welcome 3.5 million-7.4 million international tourists, 1.2-1.4 billion domestic tourists, earning 2.07-5.95 billion USD in foreign exchange, contributing 82 billion USD to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and attracting 22.4 million workers.
According to the Socio-Economic Situation Report for the Fourth Quarter and 2022 of the General Statistics Office, the number of international visitors to Vietnam in 2022 reached more than 3.66 million arrivals.
