Jakarta (ANTARA News) - More than 548.8 thousand foreign tourists visited Indonesia in January, down 14.81 percent from the previous month, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said.

"The number of tourist arrivals in January fell from December because of low season. December has been the peak season of tourist arrivals over the past few years," BPS Chief Rusman Heriawan said here on Tuesday.

However, the number of tourist arrivals in January 2011 increased compared to January 2010 when the figure was 493.8 thousand, he said.

The tourists came to Indonesia via a number of entry points. The Sepinggan airport recorded a 120.33 percent increase in the number of tourist arrivals, the highest among those of entry points in the country. This was followed by Selaparang airport with 60.11 percent and Husein Sastranegara airport with 45.61 percent.

"However, five entry points saw a decline in the number of tourist arrivals with Makassar Airport seeing the highest shortfall of 52.64 percent," he said.

Compared to December last year, almost all entry points in the country saw a decline in the number of tourist arrivals in January 2011 with the highest decline of 49.80 percent was recorded at Entikong and the lowest of 0.18 percent recorded at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, he said. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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