JAKARTA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The number of foreign holiday makers visiting Indonesia in the first quarter ratcheted higher by 4.28 percent to 3.82 million people year-on-year, the national statistics bureau said Thursday.
In Bali resort island, the center of Indonesian tourism industry, the number of foreign visitors moved up 4.41 percent to 2.2 million people, head of the bureau Kecuk Suhariyanto said.
"We have a great potential to attract more foreign tourists to visit Indonesia in terms of the number and the length of journey as we have many beautiful tourist destinations," Suhariyanto told a press conference.
For March, however, foreign tourist arrivals went down by 1.82 percent to 1.34 million people, Suhariyanto said.
Malaysia, followed by Singapore, China and Timor Leste, contributed the most foreign tourists to Indonesia in March, according to him.
Indonesia has set a target of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2019, after logging 15.81 million in 2018, according to tourism ministry.
