INDONESIA CONFIDENT OF 16 – 17.6 MLN FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS IN 2026

JAKARTA, Jan 13 (Bernama-ANTARA) -- The Indonesian government is confident it will reach its target of 16 to 17.6 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2026, reported ANTARA news agency.

The government is also targeting foreign exchange earnings of between Rp22 billion (US$1.2 million) and Rp24.7 billion (US$1.4 million), and its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to increase to 4.5 to 4.7 per cent.

"In accordance with the Tourism Minister's statement, we achieved the target of 15 million foreign tourist visits in 2025. This year, the target is 16 million to 17.6 million visits," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said after attending the Tourism Coordination Meeting on Monday (January 12).

The meeting agreed on several key pillars for strengthening the tourism sector, including accelerating infrastructure and connectivity.

This will be achieved by promoting connectivity between existing airports and several newly opened ones, as well as by implementing joint programmes between the central and regional governments, particularly in priority destination areas.

In addition, entry access will be simplified by evaluating the foreign tourist visa policy, he continued. The government is looking forward to governance transformation and digitalisation by enhancing the ecosystem for managing activities across domestic regions via integrated licensing and by reinforcing safety standards through tourism insurance.

To strengthen human resources and tourism financing, workforce competitiveness will be improved through an upskilling programme targeting 400,000 people per year, while ensuring fiscal sustainability through the establishment of the Indonesia Quality Tourism Fund (IQTF).

Furthermore, the government will provide government-borne income tax incentives to tourism workers in 2025-2026.

"Ahead of this Eid al-Fitr holiday, we will prepare transportation ticket discounts, shopping discounts, and others. We also discussed visa facilities, which will be reported to the President," Hartarto remarked.

As of the third quarter of 2025, the tourism sector's contribution to GDP reached 3.96 per cent. Tourism foreign exchange earnings during the same period reached US$13.82 billion, supported by a total employment of 25.91 million people in tourism.

Meanwhile, as of November 2025, the total number of foreign tourist visits stood at 13.98 million.

In the third quarter of 2025, the average spending per foreign tourist arrival was recorded at US$1,259.

The highest number of foreign tourist visits was from Malaysia (17.3 per cent), Australia (11.3 per cent), Singapore (10.5 per cent), and China (8.8 per cent). 

--BERNAMA-ANTARA