VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Foreign tourist arrivals in April 2020 decreased sharply by 87.44 percent to 160 thousand in April 2020, from 1.27 million in April 2019 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data stated.

"The impact of COVID-19 on tourism was extraordinary. The decline in foreign tourist arrivals began in February and then in March, while the decline in April was larger," BPS Head Suhariyanto stated via videoconferencing in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The number of foreign tourist arrivals in April 2020 also plunged by 66.02 percent from that in March 2020.

The data showed that 755 foreign tourists arrived by flights, 46.56 thousand by modes of sea transportation, and 112.73 thousand by vehicles.

The number of foreign tourists arriving at airports in April 2020 decreased by 99.90 percent from that during the corresponding period in the previous year.

A 99.79-percent drop in foreign tourist arrivals was recorded at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in April this year, a decrease of 99.81 percent at the Lombok International Airport (NTB), and 99.82 percent at the Ahmad Yani Airport in Central Java.

Meanwhile, the Husein Sastranegara Airport in West Java, Adisucipto Airport in Yogyakarta, Sam Ratulangi Airport in North Sulawesi, Minangkabau Airport in West Sumatra, Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Riau, Supandio Airport in West Kalimantan, Hasanuddin Airport in South Sulawesi, and Sultan Badaruddin II Airport in South Sumatra witnessed a 100-percent decline.

"This is since almost all countries are applying strict health protocols (in accordance with the lockdown) owing to the COVID-19 pandemic," Suharyanto pointed out.

Indonesia is on the lookout for a breakthrough to breathe new life into the tourism industry amid the challenges presented by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he stated. (ANTARA)