Indonesia foreign tourist arrivals up 9.84% on year in Sept

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's foreign tourist arrivals rose 9.84 per cent in September from a year earlier, a quicker pace than August's growth of 2.87 per cent, the statistics bureau said on Thursday.

There were 869,200 tourists visiting Indonesia in September, up from 850,500 in August.

President Joko Widodo has removed visa requirement for visitors from 45 countries making a short visit to Southeast Asia's largest economy.

Last month, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said visa requirements for 45 more countries will be dropped in a bid to boost the number of visitors.

In 2014, Indonesia attracted 9.44 million tourists. Jokowi aims to more than double that to 20 million in 2019, the last year of his five-year term.

REUTERS