Number Of Foreign Visitors Urges 16.37 Pct In November

Jakarta, Jan 2 (Antara) - The number of foreign visitors to Indonesia surged 16.37 percent in November 2013 to 807,400 from 693,800 year earlier. "The increase was the highest ever recorded by the country," chief of the Central Statistic Agency (BPS) Suryamin told reporters here on Thursday. The largest arrivals were recorded by Bali`s Ngurah Rai airport totaling 297,000 or an increase of 24.85 percent from the same month in the previous year. "The number also rose 11.46 percent from October that year," Suryamin said. In the first 11 months of 2013, the number of foreign visitors totaled 7.94 million or an increase of 9.12 percent from 7.28 million in the same period in the previous year. "Big international events such as APEC and WTO conferences contributed to the rise in the number of visitors to the country. In addition, there are new international airport such as Kualanamu airport in Medan," Suryamin said. Month-on-month, the number of arrivals in November 2013 rose 12.16 percent from October that year. Among the entry gates, the Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport of Riau recorded the highest increase of 68.43 percent, followed by the Minangkabau airport of West Sumatra growing 53.52 percent and Husein Sastranegara of West Java with a growth rate of 50.07 percent. The total number of visitors in November 2013 included those from Malaysia accounting for 18.75 percent, from Singapore for 16.81 percent , from Australia for 11.38 percent and from China 8.49 percent and from Japan 5.50 percent.