According to official data released on Thursday, Indonesia welcomed about 4,77,000 foreign tourists in July. This is the highest monthly total since COVID-19 completely wiped out world tourism.
Despite being 38% higher than the previous month and the highest since February 2020, the number was still far below pre-pandemic levels.
“This is good news because these tourists will provide a multiplier effect for the economy,” Margo Yuwono, head of Statistics Indonesia, told a news conference.
From January through the end of July, 1.22 million foreigners visited the country in Southeast Asia, compared to 79,500 during the same time period in 2021, when significant travel restrictions were in place.
In the pre-pandemic years of 2018 and 2019, Indonesia welcomed roughly 7 million foreign visitors between January and July.