In ASEAN, Indonesia ranks 4th in foreign tourist arrivals.

The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries in 2018 reached 136.2 million visits. This figure represents an 8.34% increase from the previous year. Amidst the trade war between the United States (US) and China, ASEAN countries are trying to boost their foreign exchange earnings from foreign tourists visiting their respective tourist destinations.

Tourist destinations in Thailand remain the top choice for foreign tourists visiting Southeast Asia. This is reflected in the arrival of foreign tourists to the Land of Smiles in 2018, which reached 38.3 million. This is the highest number compared to the other nine countries, equivalent to 28% of the total foreign tourist visits to ASEAN. Meanwhile, Indonesia is ranked 4th after Singapore.

This year, the Indonesian government targets 20 million foreign tourist arrivals and Rp 260 trillion in foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector. Therefore, global promotion and integrated tourism activities between domestic tourist destinations are needed. In addition, infrastructure improvements to access domestic tourist destinations are also required. For information, foreign tourist visits during the January-June 2019 period reached 7.83 million visits, a 4.01% increase from the same period last year.