Indonesia Suffers Potential Loss In Tourism Income On Natural Disasters

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesia suffered potential losses in income from the spending of one million foreign tourists  in 2015 on natural disasters.

Volcanic eruptions in a number of tourist destinations, and forest fires spewing thick smokes such as in Sumatra and Kalimantan scaring tourists away.

"Natural disasters have badly hurt the country's tourism industry. Direct losses include in cancellation of visits by many tourists  to the country including in peak season," general chairman of the Indonesian Association of Tourism Industry Didien Junaedy said here on Friday.

Didien said the highest losses were inflicted by the eruption of Mount Raung  in Banyuwangi, East Java  in mid July 2015 forcing the closing for several days  of three international airports --  Ngurah Rai in Bali, Juanda of Surabaya,  and Bandara Internasional Lombok of West Nusatenggara.

As a result, 36,878 foreign tourists canceled visits via  Ngurah Rai of Bali  and 9,284 others via  Juanda of  Surabaya.  

The cancellations of visit via the two airports causing a potential loss of  in income of US$50.7 million on assumption that a visitor would spend US$1,100 per visit.

The highest lost  opportunity  was in Bali as the eruption occurred right at the time of peak seasons.

"Normally , the number of foreign tourists to Bali averages 10,000 per day,  but in peak season (July, 2015) the number doubles," Didien said.

He said this year , the target for the number of foreign tourists visiting the country  was set at 10 million.

So far the number was already nearing the target or already exceeding the moderate target of 9.5 million, he said.

In normal condition the number could have reached 10.5 million even 11 million, he added.

Apart from volcanic eruption, thicker smokes came from big forest fires especially in Sumatra and Kalimantan disrupting flight schedules and causing breathing difficulty and respiratory  disease.  

A number of airlines reported big losses. Hotels such as in Palembang, Pekanbaru, Medan , Batam and Pontianak were also among the hardest hit with occupancy rate falling up to 30 percent.

In August - September  2015 the occupancy rate of star rated hotels in Palembang was around  45-52 percent in Batam around 45-48 percent.  During the smoke disaster,Batam  suffered big lost opportunity  as it came in peak season.

In September, normally number of holiday makers  from Malaysia and Singapore surged in Batam.

Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) , the number of  foreign visitors to  Indonesia  in October 2015 totaled  808,767. Cumulatively in the first 10 months of this year, the number reached 8,017,589  tourist  or an increase of 3.38 percent on year.

It is predicted that  from November to December, which is a peak season, the number of foreign visitors to Indonesia via Bali,  Jakarta,  and  Batam   would rise significantly.

Assuming the number of more visitors  in the last two months of the year  would reach 1 million, the target set for this year would be overshot.

The 3.38 percent growth is still better than recorded by other countries in this region. Some countries in southeast Asia even recorded a decline as a result of the global crisis.

Uncertainty in the global economy took toll on the tourism sector in this region including in Malaysia , which suffered a decline of 9.4 percent in tourism growth  and Singapore recorded a 0.3 percent fall in number of tourist arrivals, and Vietnam  with a 4.1 percent decline.  

Thailand, however, enjoyed a strong growth of 24.7 percent in the first 10 months of the year with many visitors from China and Middle East. (WDY)