Magelang, C Java (ANTARA News) - The management of Borobudur Temple is optimistic that the worlds largest Buddhist temple will meet the 3,531,900 tourist arrival target for 2014.

Deputy Head of Operation I Borobudur Temple Tourism Park Aryanto Hendro said here on Wednesday that the target accounted for 3,263,500 domestic tourists and 268,400 international tourists.

"The tourist arrival target is 18 percent higher than 2013s target," Aryanto Hendro remarked.

Borobudur Temple in 2013 attracted a total of 3,362,061 tourists: 3,145,846 domestic and 216,215 international tourists.

The figure had exceeded 2013s target of 2.99 million visitors.

However, the management had failed to meet the 2013 international tourist arrival target, which had been set at 263,400 visitors, Hendro noted.

International visitors have become the main target for the managing company of Borobudur Temple, which is being promoted as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The peak season for tourist visits to the temple located in Magelang District, Central Java---about one hour from Yogyakarta---usually occurs during the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday, school holidays, and the Christmas holiday.

"Tourists from the Netherlands, Japan and Malaysia are the most common international visitors to Borobudur Temple," he said.

Borobudur was built around 750 AD during the Syailendra Dynasty.

The temple was rediscovered by Englishman Sir Stamford Raffles in 1814, who commenced a preliminary clean-up operation one year later.

The Indonesian government, fully supported by UNESCO, has commenced work to raise funds for the temple restoration based on research from 1983 to 1986.

Borobudur Temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991.

Reporting by Heru Suyitno
EDITED BY INE
(A059/KR-BSR/O001)

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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