Glimmer of hope for Indonesian tourism

Visitor numbers in December were better than many had hoped for

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JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia's battered tourist industry has got a stroke of good news, with new government figures showing more visitors arriving following the Bali tragedy.

The Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday that overseas tourist arrivals recovered significantly in December, rising 17.6 percent from November.

In December 281,928 visitors came to Indonesia, from 239,774 in November.

The numbers are far better than many had predicted, even though they are still well shy of year-ago comparisons.

Tourists stayed away in droves following the October 12th bomb attacks in Bali that killed nearly 200 people, many of them Australian tourists.

Hotel occupancy rates at some Bali hotels fell into the single digits in the aftermath of the attack.

But the new figures show that Bali in particular is recovering as tourist arrivals in December were nearly double the lowest point in November.

Police have blamed the Bali attacks on radical Muslim militants and arrested more than 20 people over suspected links to the blasts.

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