Indonesia upbeat to see 9.5m foreign tourists visit this year

Indonesia's Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Marie Elka Pangestu said on Monday that the nation may see incoming of foreign tourists this year up to 9.5 million people, or exceeding the target.
The minister said that in the first five months this year the nation saw 3.7 million foreign tourists, or 9.96 percent over last year's tourist numbers registered in the corresponding period, which stood at 3.364 million people.
"The foreign tourist visit growth during that period approached 10 percent, higher than our target initially set between 6 to 8 percent," the minister said here.
In May alone, a period regarded as low season in tourism activities, the nation saw incoming of foreign tourists at 752,363 people, or higher than 700,708 in the same month last year, the minister said.
Indonesia recorded 8.6 million foreign tourist visit throughout last year, or 7.37 percent higher than 8.04 million recorded in 2012.
To attract more foreign tourists, the tourism and creative economy ministry set up cooperation with state-run flag carrier airlines Garuda Indonesia in setting Wonderful Indonesia logo in the airlines' 22 planes serving international flights to 17 countries across the world.