Malaysian tourists are the top contributor to Indonesia's foreign tourist arrivals.

Cross-border tourist flows in Southeast Asia are once again showing interesting dynamics. In February 2026, Indonesia recorded 1.16 million visits by Foreign Tourists, with tourists from Malaysia dominating.

Citing data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Malaysian Tourists contributed 17.18 percent of the total visits, followed by China at 13.01 percent and Singapore at 9.43 percent. 

Geographical proximity, ease of access, and cultural ties are the common threads explaining this dominance.

Overall, the February visit figure slightly declined, down 2.42 percent compared to January (month-to-month). 

However, when viewed from an annual perspective, there was a significant surge of 13.37 percent compared to February last year, indicating the Tourism Recovery trend continues.

In a broader landscape, the January-February 2026 period recorded a total of 2.35 million Tourist Visits by foreigners. 

This figure grew by 7.7 percent compared to the same period the previous year, and is also the highest achievement since 2021. This is a strong signal that Indonesia is regaining its pulse as a global destination.

Domestically, the mobility of Domestic Tourists remains massive. In February alone, 91.14 million trips were recorded, reflecting how domestic travel remains the backbone of national tourism. 

Although it fell by 10.69 percent compared to January, this figure still shows a slight annual increase of 0.70 percent.

Meanwhile, outbound travel by national tourists (wisnas) reached 701.07 thousand in February 2026. 

Malaysia once again became the top destination with a share of 28.96 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia at 20.33 percent, and Singapore and China.

This phenomenon shows the reciprocal relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia in the tourism sector.