REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The number of foreign tourist arrivals in January 2015 dropped to 723,039, down 3.99 percent from that in January 2014 that stood at 753,079, according to a minister.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said in a press statement here on Wednesday that the drop in the number of foreign tourist arrivals was due to, among other reasons, bad weather conditions that caused floods and landslides in a number of regions in the country.

"On January 15, heavy rain and clouds had led to the crash of AirAsia plane QZ 8501, which was flying from Surabaya to Singapore, in the Karimata Strait," he stated.

Besides the plane crash, the shifting of the Chinese New Year, Imlek, from January 2014 to February this year also caused a drop in foreign tourist arrivals.

Tourist arrivals from China and Taiwan dropped by -8.74 percent and -17.44 percent, respectively.

However, the decline in tourist arrivals from the 12 main markets could still be balanced with the increase in arrivals from four main markets, namely South Korea (+12.03 percent); Australia (+8.64 percent); Japan (+7.45 percent); and Britain (+4.15 percent).

Indonesia has set a target to receive 10 million foreign tourists this year.

The BPS noted that the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia declined 3.99 percent to 723,000 in January from 753,100 in the same month in 2014.

According to BPS deputy chief Sasmito Hadi Wibowo, Singapore emerged as the top source market for Indonesia with 105,503 tourists, followed by Australia with 91,955 tourists; Malaysia with 91,055 tourists; and China with 90,315 tourists.

Meanwhile, occupancy rate in star-rated hotels in 27 provinces averaged 47.08 percent, up 0.10 points from 46.98 percent in January 2014.

The average length of stay was 2.12 days in January 2015, which is almost the same as January 2014.

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