Medan, N Sumatra, (AntaraKL) - The number of foreign tourists visiting North Sumatra in the year ended Oct 31, 2017, rose 15.43 percent from 181,043 to 208,986 in the same period last year.
Malaysia still dominated among tourist arrivals in North Sumatra, with 94,568 tourists; followed by Singapore, with 2,984 tourists; and China, with 6,710 tourists,
Chief of Distribution Statistics Section at the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Office in North Sumatra, Bismark SP Sitinjak, said here on Monday.
The tourist arrivals from Malaysia, Singapore, and China increased 6.53 percent, 21.89 percent, and 22.38 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year, he noted.
"The number of tourist arrivals from Germany and Australia also increased," he added.
Most of the tourists visited North Sumatra via Kualanamu Airport, reaching 189,611 tourists, he pointed out.
Despite the increase, the number of tourist arrivals in the January-October 2017 period is still below the number of tourist arrivals in the 1990s, when it hit a record high of 500 thousand, Chief of the Association of Travel Agencies (Asita) of North Sumatra Chapter, Solahuddin Nasution, remarked.
"With Lake Toba being declared as one of the 10 main tourist destinations in Indonesia, Asita expected the number of tourists visiting North Sumatra to increase," he revealed.
