"In June, 99 foreign tourists had entered North Sumatra as compared to one tourist in May," Head of North Sumatra BPS Dinar Butar-Butar stated here on Tuesday.
Although it dropped from 21,143 foreign tourist arrivals in June 2019, it was a positive indication in the wake of the efforts to revive the tourism industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he remarked.
Of the 99 foreign tourists, 75 were from Malaysia.
"As tourists began to arrive in the new normal era, the room occupancy rates at star-rated hotels in North Sumatra in June 2020 began to increase or at an average of 20.12 percent," he noted.
The room occupancy rate rose 6.30 percentage points, from 13.82 in May 2020.
However, the average length of stay of foreign and domestic guests at star-rated hotels in June 2020 was yet short, notably 1.48 days, down 0.43 percentage points from that May 2020.
In the meantime, Indonesia recorded 160,280 foreign tourist arrivals in June 2020, plunging 2.06 percent from May 2020, or a decrease of 88.82 percent as compared to the corresponding period last year, the BPS stated.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the tourism sector. However, following the relaxation of large-scale social distancing (PSBB) measures, tourism has picked up, albeit still far from normal," Suhariyanto, BPS chief, remarked during a virtual press conference here on Monday.
During the January-June 2020 period, the total number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia had reached 3.09 million, dropping 59.96 percent from 7.72 million registered during the corresponding period last year.
The number of foreign air travelers landing in Indonesia reached 1.60 million, while 746.02 thousand came aboard sea vessels, and 741.33 thousand by land. Related news: Foreign tourist arrivals continue to decline in June 2020: BPS
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Translator: Evalisa Siregar, Fardah
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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