Jakarta. Close neighbor Malaysia and Saudi Arabia were the top destinations for Indonesians traveling abroad in August, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The agency reported that Indonesian tourists went on a total of 648,113 international trips in August alone, down by 29.38 percent compared to July figures. However, this was a 11.67 percent year-on-year increase. BPS named the school holidays as one of the major drivers of these international vacations.

About 31.22 percent of the Indonesian tourist trips made in August were heading to Malaysia. This puts Malaysia as the most popular destination among domestic travelers that month.

“Seconded by Saudi Arabia as they represented 20.53 percent [of the overseas trips for our nationals in August],” Amalia A Widyasanti, the acting head at BPS, told a press briefing in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Many Indonesians also went to Singapore (13.7 percent) and Thailand (5.5 percent). The two ASEAN countries were increasingly popular among Indonesian travelers compared to July figures, data showed.

The same goes for Saudi Arabia. In July, Saudi Arabia was the destination of 18.33 percent of the Indonesian tourists, marking a 2.2 percentage point increase the following month.

It should be no surprise that Saudi Arabia is a popular place to visit for Indonesians. About 87 percent of Indonesians are Muslims, the government reported. Although the haj season has passed, many Indonesians still fly to Mecca to perform other religious rituals, namely the minor pilgrimage of umrah, according to Amalia.

Despite the major K-pop craze among Indonesians, both young and old, only 1.46 percent of the overseas trips in August were South Korea-bound.

However, it appears that Indonesians are still holding back on going on vacation abroad as the figures have yet to surpass the pre-pandemic levels. BPS recorded a total of nearly 6 million overseas trips by Indonesians throughout January-August 2024. This is still lower compared to the 7.7 million trips reported in the same eight-month period in 2019.