The figure was a proof that local tourists contributed a lot to the national economy.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has predicted that the amount of money in circulation during the 2012 Idul Fitri holidays will reach Rp11.55 trillion.
"Based on data in 2011, we predict this year that about 16.5 million people will make trips during the 10-day Lebaran (Idul Fitri holidays) festivity with a total transaction of Rp11.55 trillion," M Faried, the tourism promotion director of the tourism and creative economy ministry, said here on Thursday.
He said that the ten-day period covered three days before the D day (D-3) and six days after the D-Day (D+6). The Idul Fitr holidays will fall on Sunday and Monday.
The tourism ministry official said the assumption was made based on the calculation that 6-7 percent of the country`s population of 240 million would conduct trips with an average spending of Rp700 thousands.
He said that the figure was a proof that local tourists contributed a lot to the national economy.
Fried said that the spending of a foreign tourist was bigger than that of a local tourist. Yet, the number of local tourists who reach remote areas in the country are far bigger than foreign ones.
"Thus, local tourists play more roles," he said.
In addition, the number of Indonesian population also increased, particularly in urban areas while their welfare is also improving. After all, most of women have also worked. This helps boost the number of local tourists conducting trips.
The Central Board of Statistics (BPS) recorded that in the quarter of 2012 local tourists grew by 4.43 percent with an increase in the frequencies of trips by 2.33 percent compared with the same period last year.
The number of local tourists in the first quarter of 2012 was recorded at 27.65 million with 53.86 million trips.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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