ourism Minister Arief Yahya says Indonesia will equip its airports with low-cost carrier (LCC) terminals to help boost the arrival of foreign tourists in the country.
“The target set by the President is 20 percent growth for foreign tourist arrivals annually. If we rely on full service carriers (FSC), we will not achieve the target,” Arief said on Thursday as reported by kontan.co.id.
LCC services grew about 55 percent annually, far higher than the growth of the FSC, which was at about 7 percent, the minister added.
However, LLC planes from Air Asia, Scoot and Jetstar that land at Indonesian airports have to use FSC terminals, which have higher tariffs, Arief explained.
The landing tariffs at LCC terminals could be 50 percent lower than the tariffs at FSC terminals, he added.
Airports in Japan like Narita, Kansai, Naha and Nagoya have been equipped with LCC terminals, Arief said, adding that the traffic at Narita Airport grew by 31 percent annually last year from 11.5 percent in 2015.
“As a result, inbound tourists to Japan grew by 33 percent -- the fastest rate in the world with total arrivals of 28.7 million last year,” he added.
He suggested that one terminal could be converted into an LCC terminal for Indonesian airports, “particularly if we insist on targeting 20 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2020”. (bbn)
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