Despite the central Bureau of statistics' ( Badan Pusat Statistik - BPS) latest report suggesting a decline in the number of visits by foreign tourists to Indonesia, the government seems to celebrate the completion of exceeding their target.
BPS reveals that Indonesia is experiencing a decline in foreign tourists by 0.61 percent last year. The report suggests that in December 2015, Indonesia has attracted 913.800 foreign tourists while the year before the number had reached as much as 915,300. BPS also stressed that the number was able to increase 17.46 percent from November to December 2015.
The government, on the other hand, argues that the number of visits of foreign tourists throughout 2015 exceeded their expectations, and that Indonesia has attracted 10,406,759 visitors in ..
Despite the apparently high figures, the BPS method "of the investigation is concerned. Head of BPS, Suryamin reveals that 9.73 million of the . number refers to those belonging to the regular business class; 370 869 refers to those who visit by Pos Lintas Batas (PLB) or border checkpoints; while the rest, at 306,540, is for those visiting temporarily.
Tourism expert Ida Bagus Surakusuma BPS suspect could still be to combine the visits with those tourists who pass through checkpoints at the borders. This could raise new questions about the accuracy of BPS statistical methods, "which could also jeopardize the Ministry of Tourism of the strategic plans.
"What is hoped is accurate statistical data has improved. We do not have precise statistics. Indonesia needs as their policy documents, such as promotion increases," says Surakusuma .
the government insists that the BPS report "is free of manipulation and conducted on the basis of comprehensive standard procedures. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya ensures that BPS uses methods of the World Tourism Organization United Nations (UNWTO) as followed by other countries. "We use the standard set by the WTO, [and] got this amount [10,406,759]," Yahya said.
The Minister further added that the president would like to see an increase in tourism beyond 10 percent and hope to reach the goal to welcome 12 million foreign tourists this year. With tourism growth target of 20 percent in 2016, the government will focus on accelerating tourism.