Jakarta. Indonesia welcomed around 6.4 million foreign tourists throughout the first half of 2024, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Thursday.

This marked a 21 percent growth compared to the same six-month period last year. 

“This is the highest international visitor number that Indonesia has ever recorded in the first half since 2020,” Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, the acting head of BPS, told the press. 

Indonesia saw 3.1 million foreign travelers in the first 6 months of 2020. Pandemic-related closures brought the numbers down to just 731,315 international travelers in January-June 2021, although the figures rose to approximately 1.5 million tourists in the same period the following year. Almost 5.3 million foreigners visited Indonesia in January-June 2023.

But while this signals post-pandemic recovery, the BPS report showed Indonesia still had a long way to go before it could achieve the goal of attracting 17 million foreign tourists throughout 2024.

According to BPS, Indonesia had almost 1.2 million foreign tourist arrivals in June alone. These international travelers mostly came from Malaysia. About 16.1 percent of the foreigners visiting that month were Malaysians, followed by Singaporean tourists [13.4 percent] and Australians [12.3 percent], Amalia said.

Data showed that visitor numbers from neighboring Malaysia went down by 5.86 compared to May. Amalia added: “Malaysian travelers also usually came to the country through the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.”

Batam became the most popular entry point among Singaporeans. A lot of Australians came to Indonesia through the Ngurah Rai airport in the tourist haven of Bali. Most of the foreign tourists visiting in June stayed for 7.1 nights. 

Amalia also revealed that the foreign travelers spent more money in the second quarter. Their average spending amounted to $1,444 per visit, higher than the average expenditure of $1,429 in the first quarter. Accommodations made up 36 percent of what the Q2-2024 foreign travelers paid for during their stay in Indonesia. Food and shopping accounted for almost 19.4 percent and 11 percent of the average spending, respectively.