Post-quake tourism plummets in Lombok
Government data has highlighted just how severe the Lombok earthquakes have been on the tourism industry.
Indonrsia"s statistics agency BPS says tourist arrivals plummeted by 69% in August.
Arrivals fell from nearly 14,000 in July to just over 4,000.
It has been a major blow to the local tourism economy as August is traditionally the busiest month of the year for inbound tourism.
In fact the downturrn is very likely much worse than the BPS data suggests.
The agency only records inbound data direct to Lombok however the majority of travellers traditionally visit the island via sea crossings from Bali.
"The earthquake was the reason for the drastic decline in tourist arrivals in August," said BPS head Suhariyanto.
He added that Lombok hotel occupancy was just 29% in August.
Despite the devastation in North Lombok, Indonesia tourism overall has performed well so far this year.
It fell nearly 2% in August but is still on track for annual double digit growth.
So far it is up 12.3% year-on-year but will likely fall just short of its target of 17 million arrivals for 2018.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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