"Insya Allah (God willing), with our prayer, spirit, and collaboration, we will be able to reach the pre-pandemic figure, namely 17 million," he said at his weekly press conference in Jakarta on Monday.
According to Uno, the target has been raised in response to the high number of foreign tourist arrivals in 2023.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded that cumulatively, the number of foreign tourist arrivals in the period from January to December 2023 was 11.68 million.
The figure surpassed the number of foreign tourist arrivals in 2022, namely 5.89 million.
It was also higher than the target of 7.4 million set by the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry in early 2023, as well as the one set in mid-2023, namely 8.5 million.
"If compared to our target, it is almost double the lower limit target, 40 percent above the upper limit target," the minister said.
During Monday's press conference, he informed that tourists from Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, China, and Timor Leste dominated the arrivals.
According to BPS data, tourist arrivals in the period from January to December 2023 were dominated by visitors from Malaysia (1.9 million), Australia (1.43 million), Singapore (1.41 million), China (787,924 arrivals), and Timor Leste (728,586).
In this regard, the minister expressed his appreciation and his wish to visit several friendly countries to stimulate an increase in the number of international tourist visits to Indonesia in 2024.
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Translator: Putu Indah, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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