Padang, W Sumatra (ANTARA) – West Sumatra Governor Mahyeldi Ansharullah has highlighted the need for holding more tourism events and promotion in the province to boost the number of tourist visits.”It is also aimed at increasing the occupancy of hotel rooms and the average length of stay of tourists to present an impact on the economic growth of West Sumatra,” he said here on Saturday. ccording to Ansharullah, the development of the tourism industry in a region is inseparable from the number of tourist visits to the region. The number can be monitored using several indicators. Some of the indicators are the hotel room occupancy rate and the length of stay of tourists, both international and domestic, at hotels. In December 2022, the occupancy of star-rated hotels in West Sumatra was recorded at 58.62 percent. The highest increase in occupancy rate of 5.25 percentage points was recorded by two-star hotels, followed by one-star hotels, whose occupancy climbed by 1.42 percentage points. However, the occupancy rate at three-star and five-star hotels declined by 2.36 percentage points and 3.98 percentage points, respectively. The average length of stay of international and Indonesian tourists in West Sumatra in November 2022 stood at 2.31 days, reflecting an increase of 0.75 days compared to the previous month. The provincial government of West Sumatra, through its Visit Beautiful West Sumatra (VBWS) campaign, is targeting to achieve 8.2 million international and domestic tourist visits in 2023. Earlier, head of the Tourism Office of West Sumatra Luhur Budiandasaid that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant drop in the number of tourist visits to the province. Before the pandemic, the number of international and domestic tourist visits to West Sumatra stood at 8.2 million. However, amid the pandemic, the number fell by almost 50 percent.

Source: Antara News Agency (ANA)