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uilding on deals with national flag carriers Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines, the government says it wants to cooperate with more airlines to promote Indonesia to the world.

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said on Tuesday that the ministry was looking to collaborate with international and domestic airlines.

“Airlines have become an important element in promoting the Indonesian tourism industry because connectivity is the key to boosting the number of inbound travelers,” Mari said on the sidelines of the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Airlines in Jakarta.

Under the MoU, which extends an earlier agreement signed in 2000 to 2015, the government and Singapore Airlines will each contribute US$250,000 to promote Indonesia’s tourism in key overseas markets through the airline’s network.

“With Singapore Airline’s wide global network, we hope that this partnership will be able to boost Indonesia’s image as one of the best tourism destinations in the world, and in turn boost the number of visitors to Indonesia,” Mari said.

Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary Silk Air currently serve 96 destinations in 37 countries.

Mak Swee Wah, Singapore Airlines executive vice president, expressed a view similar to Mari’s, welcoming the partnership to promote Indonesia’s tourism.

“We are confident that our marketing staff in these countries will do their utmost best to promote Indonesia to their community,” Mak said.

“This partnership is a part of our long-term commitment to grow Indonesia’s tourism industry as well as to strengthen the partnership between the tourism and creative economy and Singapore Airlines.”

The government is anticipating that 8 million tourists will come to Indonesia this year, up 4.58 percent from the 7.65 million tourists who visited the country throughout 2011.

Tourism is also an important cash generator for the country as it contributed $8.6 billion to Indonesia’s $110.12 billion foreign-exchange reserves as of December last year.

Looking to build on the relationship with Singapore Airlines, Mari said she was eying Aeroflot as the next in line to promote Indonesian tourism, given the steady increase in the number of Russian tourists to Indonesia.

The number of Russian tourists to Indonesia rose 15 percent to 79,398 in 2010 from 72,829 in 2009, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The represented 1.1 percent of the overall number of tourists coming to Indonesia in that period, indicating a potential for growth.

The average amount spent by Russian tourists in Indonesia was $1,723 in 2010, much higher than average tourist spending of $1,085, and up 13 percent from $1,526 in 2009, BPS data said.

Russian tourists tended to spend more because of the lengthier stay of their visits to Indonesia, Mari said. Russians spent an average of 11.38 days on holiday in Indonesia throughout 2010, higher than the average tourist stay of 8.04 days.

Mari said that she hoped that direct flight service between Moscow and Jakarta could be opened soon. Currently, Russians who want to go to Indonesia use chartered flights from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg.

Russians also favor regular flights that stop in destinations such as Singapore; Doha, Qatar; Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE); Frankfurt, Germany; and Amsterdam, Netherlands. (nfo)