Foreign tourist arrivals recorded at 4.57 million

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Central Bureau Statistics (BPS) said that the number of foreign tourists arrivals in the country in the January-September 2008 period had reached 4.57 million. 

BPS Head Rusman Heriawan said here on Tuesday, the number of foreign tourists arriving in the January-September 2008 was 12.19 percent bigger than the number of foreign tourist arrivals in the same period a year earlier, which stood at 4.07 million people. 

He said that the number of foreign tourists arriving through 11 main arrival gates in September 2008, reached 410.8 thousands or an increase by 7.27 percent compared with the same period in 2007 which stood at 382.9 thousand people. 

The BPS head said that the occupancy rate of star-rated hotels in 14 main destination regions in August 2008 was recorded at 55.19 percent, or an increase by 0.62 points compared with that in July 2008. 

In the meantime, the occupancy rate of star-rated hotels in Bali increased 1.81 average points to 69.94 percent from 68.13 percent in July 2008. 

The BPS recorded that the length of stay of the foreign tourists in Indonesian star-rated hotels in 14 main tourist destination regions was recorded at an average of 2.06 days in August 2008. 

This showed a decline by 0.10 day compared with the length of stay of foreign tourists in Indonesia in July 2008, he said.