A report from Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the number of foreign tourist visits to East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) reached 58,213. This figure represents a 565.67% year-on-year (YoY) increase from the previous year's 8,745 visits.
International tourist visits to NTT plummeted severely since the pandemic, as shown in the graph above.
In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, international tourist visits to the province were only 44,778, a 71.27% YoY decrease.
Prior to the pandemic, the trend of international tourist visits to NTT had been increasing from 2012 to 2019. Over the last decade, the highest number of international tourist visits was recorded in 2019 at 155,900, while the lowest was in 2021.
By region, West Manggarai had the highest number of international tourist visits in NTT in 2022, followed by Kupang City and West Sumba with 7,035 and 2,750 visits respectively.
Meanwhile, six regencies/cities in NTT had zero international tourist visits in 2022: Kupang, South Central Timor, Central Sumba, Nagekeo, Sabu Raijua, and Malaka.
The following is the number of international tourist visits to regencies/cities in NTT in 2022:
* West Manggarai: 42,916 visits
* Kupang City: 7,035 visits
* West Sumba: 2,750 visits
* Rote Ndao: 1,437 visits
* Sikka: 944 visits
* East Sumba: 813 visits
* Belu: 806 visits
* South West Sumba: 525 visits
* Ngada: 485 visits
* Manggarai: 404 visits
* Ende: 49 visits
* North Central Timor: 24 visits
* Alor: 10 visits
* East Flores: 10 visits
* East Manggarai: 3 visits
* Lembata: 2 visits
* Kupang: 0 visits
* South Central Timor: 0 visits
* Central Sumba: 0 visits
* Nagekeo: 0 visits
* Sabu Raijua: 0 visits
* Malaka: 0 visits
The government has implemented various policies to boost NTT's tourism industry, which has been struggling for the past three years. This includes hosting side meetings for the G20 summit last year.
Most recently, Indonesia has been appointed as the host of the ASEAN Summit 2023 in Labuan Bajo, from May 9-11, 2023. The government hopes that this summit will significantly boost tourism in NTT.