Indonesia Estimated To Earn US$9 Billion From Tourism

Jakarta, Dec 19 (ANTARA) - Indonesia is expected to earn US$9.07 billion from the tourism sector this year or an increase of 6.03 percent from last year, Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy Mari Elka Pangestu said. "The increase is attributable mainly to higher spending by foreign tourist per visit," Mari said in year end news conference here on Wednesday This year, spending by foreign tourists in the country averages US$1,133.81 each per visit or an increase of 1.39 percent from US$1,118.26 last year, she said. The spending is higher despite a decline in length of stay from an average of 7.84 days to 7.7 days, she said. She noted the number of visits rose by regional tourists but a decline in the visits by tourists from crisis hit Europe. Altogether the number of visits grew 5 percent on-year in the first 10 months of the year or higher than estimated global growth of 3-4 percent. Meanwhile, the the number of travels by domestic tourists is estimated to reach 245 million or an increase of 3.81 percent from last year`s 236 million. "The spending by local tourists is estimated to reach Rp171.5 trillion or an increase of 9.3 percent," Mari said. Mari attributed the increase in the spending to growing number of travels as well as higher spending per visit by a tourist. She said a local tourist or traveler spent around Rp700,000 per day each up from Rp662,680 last year. "This indicates an increase in the number of low income to middle income people in Indonesia," she said. She said the tourism sector contributes 4 percent or Rp296.97 trillion to the country`s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).