The increase has come about due to more direct flights connecting the two countries.

“Garuda Indonesia has opened a direct flight from Denpasar, Bali, to Shanghai, China.

“This has helped boost the number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia,” BPS chairman Suryamin said in a press conference at the agency’s headquarters in Jakarta on Friday.

According to the BPS, Singapore ranked second. The agency recorded 110,261 tourists from Singapore, up 13.15 per cent from February of last year. Malaysia ranked third with 98,331 tourists, followed by 75,331 from Australia and 42,186 from Japan.

The BPS recorded that 888,309 foreigners arrived in Indonesia in February. Of them, 25,129 came for temporary business purposes. This figure shows a 9.1-per-cent increase month-on-month.

In the first two months of 2016, 710,687 foreigners arrived at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, up 14.3 per cent from the same period of last year.

Meanwhile, 317,820 foreigners arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, a 5.6-per-cent decline from the same period of last year.

“This is important progress because foreign tourists boost the economic situation in the country. Tourism has a multiplier effect,” Suryamin said.

– The Jakarta Post