Indonesia's October tourist arrivals up 8 pct

Reuters / Yahoo Asia News - 2006-12-05 10:47

JAKARTA, Dec 1, 2006 (Reuters) - The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia in October rose nearly 8 percent from a year ago, the statistics bureau said on Friday, underpinned by an absence of big natural disasters or repeats of previous bomb attacks.

Tourism accounts for around 5 percent of Indonesia's economic activity and brought in $4.4 billion in 2005.

Arrivals rose to 290,300 in October, taking the total number of foreign tourst arrivals in January-October this year to 3.22 million, down 7.91 percent from the same period last year.

Tourism in the sprawling archipelago of some 17,000 islands, has been shaken by bomb attacks, tsunamis, earthquakes and cases of bird flu.

Tourist arrivals in Bali, the country's most popular tourist destination, rose nearly 37 percent in October from a year earlier to 118,800 people.

The predominantly Hindu island in mostly Muslim Indonesia is still struggling to recover after suicide bombers attacked three restaurants in October last year, killing 20 people.

These attacks occurred three years after Islamic militants bombed two Bali nightclubs, killing 202 people, mostly foreign holidaymakers.