Between the years 2010 and 2015 the tourism sector ranked fourth or fifth in terms of the biggest sources of foreign exchange earnings. In those years it were (1) oil and gas, (2) coal, (3) palm oil, (4) processed rubber – which are all natural resources – and (5) tourism that brought most foreign currency (mostly US dollars) into Southeast Asia’s largest economy (and starting from 2013 tourism would surpass processed rubber, hence taking fourth position).
By 2018 the tourism…