Indonesia Foreign Tourist Arrivals Top 12 Million Through September as Spending per Visit Rises

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — Indonesia recorded 12,005,400 international tourist arrivals from January through September 2026, marking a 5.01% expansion compared to the same period last year and setting the highest nine-month total since 2020.

The sustained inflow of overseas visitors and rising average spending per trip provide crucial foreign exchange support and economic momentum for the hospitality, culinary, retail, and local transportation sectors. While nine-month arrivals remain marginally shy of the pre-pandemic benchmark of 12.10 million recorded during the same span in 2019, the data highlights solid underlying recovery across the archipelago's leisure economy even as macroeconomic volatility clouds regional growth.

Malaysia and Australia Lead Source Markets

According to official data released by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) on Monday, inbound foreign arrivals for September alone totaled 1,427,114 visits, up 2.31% from September 2025 despite a typical post-summer seasonal dip of 10.79% from August.

Travelers holding Malaysian passports represented the largest origin market in September with approximately 239,220 visits, accounting for 16.76% of all foreign entries. Australia ranked second with 177,350 visits, or 12.43%, followed by China with 153,570 visits, or 10.76%, and Singapore with 134,360 visits, or 9.42%. Other notable contributors included Timor-Leste with 65,920 visits, India with 58,950 visits, South Korea with 48,180 visits, Japan with 37,160 visits, France with 37,050 visits, and the United Kingdom with 36,570 visits.

Bali remained the undisputed primary international gateway. I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport processed 650,134 inbound overseas travelers during the month. Greater Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport followed with 256,248 arrivals, the maritime cross-border hub of Batam handled 156,391 entries, Surabaya's Juanda International Airport cleared 38,602 visits, and Medan's Kualanamu International Airport logged 25,409 visits.

Spending per Visit and Duration Expand

The quality of international tourism receipts also showed tangible improvement during the third quarter of 2026. Average expenditure per foreign tourist climbed 6.96% to $1,374.48 per visit, up from $1,285.00 in the second quarter and $1,297.31 in the third quarter of 2025.

The expenditure expansion was supported by longer visits, with the average length of stay extending to 11.01 nights, compared to 10.30 nights in the previous quarter and 10.70 nights during the same quarter last year.

Accommodation constituted the largest single expense, absorbing $497.12 per visit in the third quarter compared to $478.16 in the second quarter. Food and beverage consumption increased to $271.33 from $254.58. Shopping and souvenirs rose to $148.93 from $141.90, while entertainment grew to $115.63 from $108.71. Travelers also spent $79.37 on local tour packages, $77.26 on local ground transportation, $53.64 on domestic flight legs, and $50.41 on vehicle rentals.

Domestic Travel Thrives as Outbound Trips Decline

Activity across the domestic leisure ecosystem grew robustly over the nine-month period. Domestic tourists completed 938,844,368 trips between January and September 2026, advancing 4.10% from 901,904,053 trips logged during the corresponding period in 2025. September accounted for 96,690,631 domestic journeys, reflecting a 2.47% annual gain despite a 7.30% month-on-month contraction following peak school holiday seasons.

In contrast to the expansion in inbound and domestic travel, outbound overseas trips by Indonesian residents declined. Cross-border journeys by domestic citizens totaled 6,508,417 trips from January to September 2026, contracting 4.60% from 6,821,978 trips in the previous year. Outbound departures in September alone slipped 6.69% month-on-month and fell 13.69% year-on-year to 600,605 trips.

Uneven Recovery Across Regional Hospitality

The influx of domestic and international travelers lifted national hospitality metrics, with the room occupancy rate for star-rated hotels reaching 51.78% in September. This represents an increase of 0.74 percentage points from August and 1.62 percentage points compared to September 2025.

Twenty-two provinces recorded monthly occupancy gains. Bali posted the highest room utilization rate nationwide at 66.42%, followed by Jakarta at 58.18% and South Papua at 56.97%. Conversely, the lowest star-rated hotel occupancy rates were recorded in Highland Papua at 21.80%, Bangka Belitung Islands at 29.54%, and Maluku at 30.18%.

Occupancy across non-starred hotels and alternative accommodations stood significantly lower at 25.57% nationally. While higher tourist numbers, extended stays, and larger wallet shares per traveler reinforce the tourism sector's revenue base, wide regional performance disparities indicate that targeted transport connectivity, destination upgrades, and higher-value services remain necessary to distribute economic gains beyond primary hubs.