Tourist arrivals in Indonesia up 21 percent to 1.03 million

Tourist arrivals in Indonesia rose 21% during the
first three months of the year to 1.03 million from 857,533 a year earlier as
fears of election unrest proved to be unfounded, the Central Statistics
Bureau (BPS) said Tuesday.

It also said that the implementation of the new visa charges hasn't affected
tourist arrivals in the country.

The number of foreign holiday-makers arriving in the island of Bali,
Indonesia's most famous tourist destination, rose 41% to 303,342 during the
January-March period from 215,552 a year earlier, the bureau added.

Indonesia's tourist sector, which was one of its largest sources of foreign
income until a couple of years back, is rebounding after the terrorist attacks
on two night clubs in Bali in October 2002 and last year's severe acute
respiratory syndrome outbreak, which killed 774 people worldwide and sickened more
than 8,000.

Indonesia's cash-strapped government in February introduced a $25 visa fee
for most visitors on a 30-day stay and $10 for a three-day visa. The move
triggered protests from the tourism industry.

Last year, 3.69 million tourists arrived in Indonesia, a drop of 9.8% from
2002, according to the statistics bureau.

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Exports up 3.43 percent

The country's exports increased by 3.43 percent in March to US$5.07 billion from $4.90 billion in February, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Tuesday.

The agency said that the increase was driven by higher exports of oil and gas commodities and non-oil and gas products.

But BPS said that exports in the first quarter of this year (January to March) slightly declined by 0.89 percent from the same period last year mainly on lower oil and gas export value.

Oil and gas exports in March bounced back to $1.19 billion compared to February's $1.13 billion due to a 9.94 percent and 3.49 percent increase in exports of crude oil and natural gas, respectively.

Non-oil and gas exports during the month recorded a 2.86 percent increase from $3.76 billion to $3.87 billion.

The government has set a total export target of $59.4 billion for this year.

Elsewhere, BPS said that imports in March rose 8.3 percent to $3.13 billion from $2.89 billion in February. The import figure jumped by 11 percent from $2.82 billion in March of last year.

The higher import caused the country's trade surplus for the month to fall to $1.94 billion from $2.01 billion in February.

Some analysts have said that the higher import figure could signal more active business activities.

 Source :   Office of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs