Indonesia's foreign tourist arrivals plunge due to COVID-19 pandemic

Source: Xinhua| 2020-04-01 15:05:39|Editor: xuxin
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JAKARTA, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The number of holidaymakers coming to Indonesia dropped in February amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Indonesia's Central Agency of Statistics announced on Wednesday that the number of foreign tourist arrivals nudged lower by 28.9 percent to 885,067 people on a yearly basis.

"Commonly, there is a hike in the number of arrivals in February, but not for this February as the figure decreased," said the agency's head Kecuk Suhariyanto.

The agency's official forecast that the number of foreign tourist arrivals is likely to drift lower further.

The cumulative number of foreign tourist arrivals by February drifted lower by 11.8 percent to 2.16 million people, Suhariyanto said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led nations to apply lockdown or restriction measures on people's mobility.

The government has banned the entry of foreign visitors from eight nations and recently has decided to transiently ban all arrivals and transits by foreign citizens coming to the country.

However, holders of stay permits, diplomats and other official visitors will be exempted from the ban.

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