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AirAsia to add 5 new destinations in Indonesia
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A boy looks at an AirAsia plane preparing for take-off at an airport terminal in Surabaya, East Java, on June 22. (Shutterstock.com/dreamstory)
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ow-cost carrier AirAsia is set to open five new routes across Indonesia in a bid to attract six million more tourists to the country.
The company's CEO, Tony Fernandes, said these new destinations were expected to become as popular as Bandung, which became one of Indonesia's top tourist destinations after the airline added the city to its network.
"No one flew to Bandung before we did. Now, Bandung is a very successful town and we are discussing other destinations in Indonesia that we think we can develop for tourism," said Fernandes at the State Palace on Wednesday prior to a meeting with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
(Read also: AirAsia seeks govt support to explore more RI destinations)
During the meeting, Fernandes told Jokowi that Malaysia attracted around 24 million tourists each year. Meanwhile, Indonesia has recorded just 10.5 million tourist visits so far this year, even though the country targeted 20 million visitors for 2016. "We believe AirAsia can contribute quite a lot [to reaching that target]," he went on to say.
Fernandes said tourism was a fantastic economic multiplier. For every US$1 spent, tourism could potentially multiply that figure by up to 12 times.
"Our commitment to the President is to add at least six million tourists to the country, which could bring in around $39 billion in terms of economic wealth to Indonesia," he added.
Fernandes asked the government to relax the capital structure in the airline industry, which currently only allows for 49 percent foreign ownership. "We would like to make more money for Indonesia, so we also discussed capital structure," he said. (kes)
