Liputan6.com, Jakarta – The tourism sector is booming and has exceeded the target for foreign tourist arrivals in 2023. From the target of 7.4 million at the start of the year, it has been revised to 8.5 million tourists foreigners following the exceeding of the objective.

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno said this number could further increase to two digits whether various breakthroughs are made. He is optimistic that with additional direct flights, foreign tourist visits in 2024 could reach 14 million, with the end-of-year holiday period as the peak.

“We are focused on Australia and India as large markets,” Sandi said during the Weekly Brief with Sandi Uno held hybridly on Monday, October 9, 2023.

Sandi intends to encourage regional tourism by organizing a national coordination meeting, preparing department heads from all regions to prepare for the end-of-year holidays. In the latest data released by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, the August 2023 figure was recorded at 1.1 million foreign tourist arrivals.

With this achievement, the total number of visits from January to August 2023 amounts to 7,443,260 foreign tourist visits. “This means that this is an increase compared to the previous month and compared to the previous year, an increase of almost 70 percent and almost exceeding the target of 7.4 million tourists at the start of the year,” he said.

By the end of 2023, Sandi is optimistic that the target of 8.5 million foreign tourists will be far exceeded. Looking at the total number of visiting foreign tourists in August 2023, the first place is dominated by Malaysian tourists with a percentage of 15.4 percent, followed by Australian tourists with 11.4 percent and third position by Singaporean tourists with 9.3 percent.