Padang, West Sumatra (ANTARA News) - The number of foreign tourist arrivals in West Sumatra via Minangkabau International Airport and Teluk Bayur seaport reached 3,051 people in June 2011.

The June 2011 arrivals increased 14.31 percent from 2,669 tourists in May 2011," Head of the West Sumatra Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Muchsin Ayub said here on Thursday.

The Tour de Singkarak international cycling race had boosted the number of the foreign tourists to West Sumatra, he said.

The majority of the foreign tourists were Malaysians (1,838 people), and Australia (211 people).

The number of the foreign tourists to West Sumatra constituted 0.45 percent of the total foreign visitors to Indonesia in June, namely 674,402 people.

Meanwhile, South Sumatra received 521 foreign tourists via Sultan Mahmud Badarudin II airport in May 2011, up 1.56 percent from the previous month.

The figure also showed a 330.58 percent increase from 121 foreign tourists visiting the province in May 2010, Haslani Haris, the head of the South Sumatra Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said in Palembang recently.

Most of the foreign tourists to South Sumatra were from Malaysia (301 people), followed by Singapore (62), the United States of America (14), and England (8 people).

Aceh Darussalam Province located in the northern most of Sumatra Island, was visited by 6,657 foreign tourists during the January-June 2011 period.

Of the total, 56 percent or 3,759 tourists were from Malaysia, Syech Suhaimi, the Aceh BPS chairman, said here on Tuesday.

Malaysia was on top as a source of tourist arrivals in Aceh, followed by Germany (744 tourists), China (516 tourists), England (199) and Australia (135).
(Uu.F001/HAJM)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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