MORE THAN 3.47 MILLION TOURISTS VISIT RI UNTIL JULY

Jakarta, Sept 1 (ANTARA) - More than 3.47 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia in the first seven months of this year, up 11.43 percent from the same period last year, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said.

In July 2008 alone, about 567,400 foreign tourists visited the country, an increase of 7.24 percent from July 2007, BPS Chief Rusman Heriawan said here on Monday.

"The number of foreign tourists visiting Bali in July 2008 rose 11.05 percent from July 2007. Compared to June 2008, the number of foreign tourists visiting the resort island increased 6.96 percent to more than 190,700," he said.

He said the room occupancy rate of star-rated hotels in the country's 14 tourist destination areas in June 2008 reached 52.37 percent, up 1.54 percent from a month earlier.

The room occupancy rate of star-rated hotels in Bali meanwhile rose 5.94 percent to 67.90 percent in June 2008 from 61.96 percent in May 2008, he said.

"On average the foreign tourists stayed at star-rated hotels in the country's 14 tourist destinations in June 2008 was 2.06 days, up 0.03 day from the previous month," he said.

Indonesia has set itself a target of enticing 7 million tourists this year.