Tanjungpinang - The cumulative number of foreign tourist visits (tourists) to Riau Islands from January to July 2020 was only 405,752 visits.

When compared with the visits of foreign tourists in the same period in the previous year which reached as many as 1,623,977 visits, this figure was a very drastic decrease, reaching 75.01 percent.

Agus the Head of Riau Islands Province BPS in Tanjungpinang on Monday said, the number of foreign tourist visits to Riau Islands in July 2020 was 1,765 visits or decreased by 1.23 percent compared to foreign tourists visiting during June 2020 which reached 1,787 visits.

The decrease in the number of foreign tourists visiting during July 2020, continued Agus, was due to the decrease in visits from the main entrance in Riau Islands.

The entrance to Batam fell 1.74 percent. Karimun also experienced a decrease in foreign tourist visits in July 2020.

"Even in Tanjungpinang and Bintan no foreign tourists were visiting during April-July 2020," he said.

Agus also added that the highest number of foreign tourists visited in January-July 2020 and according to the entrance, namely Batam, there were 302,042 visits or 74.44 percent.

"Meanwhile, in Bintan, there were 63,933 visits or 15.76 percent, Karimun had 21,531 visits or 5.31 percent, and Tanjungpinang had 18,246 visits or only 4.50 percent," said Agus.

BPS Kepri also noted that Singaporean nationals were still the most tourists visiting Riau Islands in the January to July 2020 period.

Agus added, Singaporean foreign tourists reached 45.46 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting Riau Islands.

"During January-July 2020 foreign tourists visiting Singaporean nationals recorded as many as 184,475 visits," he said.

The second-highest number of visits was foreign tourists with Malaysian nationalities, with 46,877 visits or 11.55 percent of the total visits to Riau Islands from January-July 2020.

The third-largest number of visits were foreign tourists from China with 24,325 visits or 6.00 percent of the total visits to Riau Islands during the same period.

Followed by foreign tourists from India 4.37 percent, the Philippines 1.93 percent, Britain 1.63 percent, Japan 1.45 percent, Australia 1.24 percent, South Korea 1.02 percent, and America 0.99 percent.