"This is the result of Chinese new year holidays."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - More than 678.4 thousand tourists visited Indonesia in February 2013, up 14.5 percent from 592.5 thousand in the same period last year, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
Compared to January 2013, the number of tourist arrivals in February 2013 represented a 10.43 percent increase, BPS chief Suryamin said here on Monday.
He said the number of tourist arrivals via Adi Sucipto in Yogyakarta rose 35.45 percent, followed by Lombok international airport in Mataram 33.79 percent, Minangkabau international airport in Padang 30.40 percent, Husein Sastranegara airport in Bandung 27.04 percent, Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta 26.79 percent, Juanda airport in Surabaya 17.89 percent, Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport in Pekanbaru 12.28 percent, Soekarno Hatta international airport in Banten province 9.67 percent and Batam 4.8 percent.
"The number of tourist arrivals particularly via the nine entry points has always increased every February since 2007. This is the result of Chinese new year holidays," he said.
Meanwhile, the number of tourist arrivals via seven other entry points fell in February 2013, with Adi Sumarmo airport in Solo recording the highest shortfall of 29.67 percent and Sepinggan airport in Balikpapan recording the lowest drop of 0.3 percent, he said.
He said the room occupancy rate of star-rated hotels in 23 out of 33 Indonesian provinces in February averaged 49.18 percent, down 1.64 point compared to 50.82 percent in the same month last year.
Compared to January 2013, the room occupancy rate in February 2013 rose 2.67 percent, he said.
Most of tourist arrivals in February came from Malaysia, Singapore, China, Australia and Japan.
(Reporting by Anita Permata Dewi, editing by Suharto)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
