Global crisis hits tourism industry

The Jakarta Post , SURABAYA,  Fri, 11/14/2008

The global financial crisis is hitting the tourism industry as indicated by the decreasing number of foreign tourist visits to the province, a local official says.

Adi Nugroho, a senior official at the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), said here Thursday that 17,300 foreign tourists had arrived at Juanda International Airport in September, down from 18,700 in August.

He said the decrease was related to the financial crisis.

He said the hotel occupancy rate in the province had dropped to 47.98 percent in September from 50.93 percent in August.

"The foreign visitors -- mostly from ASEAN, Hong Kong, Japan and United States -- stay an average of 1.45 days for business and tourism purposes," he said.

He said most foreign tourists visited Mount Bromo in Probolinggo and Tlaga Sarangan in Magetan