Indonesia welcomed over 1 million foreign tourists in August, according to data from the Tourism Ministry, a 13.19 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

As reported by kompas.com, Indonesia saw a 55.31 percent increase in Saudi Arabian visitors throughout August this year compared to 2015, followed by Australia (47.52 percent), France (35.93 percent), UK (30.91 percent) and Germany (27.64 percent).

 

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the total number of foreign visitors from January to August, some 7.4 million, was in-line with the government's target of 12 million by the end of this year.

He said "going digital" was an important step to further increase the numbers, especially to lure in Chinese tourists who have become the world's largest market.

"China is the largest tourist market in the world. Indonesia has managed to attract only 1.2 million, or around 1 percent of China's outbound market. Meanwhile, Thailand welcomed up to 8 million of them," said Arief, adding that the ministry was currently collaborating with China's biggest search engine, Baidu, to promote Indonesian destinations.

"Baidu ensured us that it could help increase the number of Chinese tourists to Indonesia by 10 million in 2019 through branding, advertising and sales programs," he said.