Tourism targets 7.7 million international arrivals in 2011

In an end of the year Press Conference on 30 December, Minister for Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, said that with Indonesia’s economic growth of 6% and improved world perception of Indonesia as a tourist destination, his Ministry is optimistic that next year 2011, Indonesia can project to receive a total of 7.7 million international visitors, up 10% compared to 2010.
This year, total international arrivals to Indonesia reached 7,000,571 visitors, achieving the high target, up 8.5% compared to 2009 when 6,452,259 tourists visited the country.
These international tourists generated a total of US$ 7.6 billion, based on the calculation that on average each visitor spends US$ 1,085.70 per person per stay with an average length of stay of 8.04 days in Indonesia. In fact, the average spent of tourists for 2010 increased from US$ 995.93/per visitor per stay in 2009, while the average length of stay for 2010 has also increased 5% from the 7.69 days the previous year.
Total domestic tourists in 2010, meanwhile grew to 234 millionn departures spending a total of Rp. 138 trillion. The number of domestic tourists improved 3.05% compared to 2009 when a total of 229 million departures were made., while in 2011 it is projected that more than 237 million domestic travels will be made.
The increase in international and domestic tourists have improved hotels’ average occupancy rate, which until October registered 50.38%, up 1.99 point compared to the same period last year with 48.39%.
Meanwhile, the Ministry noted that in 2010 Tourism contribution to the National GDP was 4.8%, which is expected to increase to 4.95% in 2011. Meanwhile, 7.7 million people worked in the tourism sector, which is expected to increase to 8.1 million people in 2011.