Indonesia Sees Tourist Arrivals Dropping After Terror Attacks

(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia is facing the prospect of a decline in foreign tourist arrivals after a spate of terror attacks this week prompted travel advisories from about a dozen countries.

Tourist arrivals may drop about 1 million this year as advisories from countries including Australia, Singapore, the U.S. and Malaysia to their citizens may impact travel plans, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The series of terror attacks is a blow to Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s efforts to double tourist numbers to 20 million by the end of his five-year term in 2019 and boost the sector’s contribution to the economy. Tourist arrivals to Bali, which accounts for more than 40 percent of the country’s total, fell during the peak Christmas and new year after a volcano eruption near the island prompted similar travel advisories.

At least 26 people, including 13 militants and their children, were killed in a series of suicide attacks this week in and around Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, according to the Associated Press. The police shot dead four sword-wielding men who attacked a police headquarters in Sumatra province on Wednesday, which also killed a police officer, the agency reported.

A total of 14 million tourists visited Indonesia last year with more than 5 million holidaymakers arriving in Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport alone, data from the nation’s statistics bureau show. Tourist arrivals jumped 15 percent to 3.67 million in the first quarter from a year earlier, it said on May 2.

To contact the reporter on this story: Viriya Singgih in Jakarta at vsinggih@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Thomas Kutty Abraham at tabraham4@bloomberg.net, Ruth Pollard

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