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Air connectivity key in increasing number of foreign tourist arrivals
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Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya paid a visit to Ngurah Rai International Airport on Bali on May 8 to discuss air connectivity. (Shutterstock/File)
T
ourism Minister Arief Yahya paid a visit to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali on Monday to discuss air connectivity, one of the ministry’s three main priorities for this year next to the going digital and homestay programs in tourist areas.
Arief said air connectivity was important as almost 80 percent of foreign tourists came to Indonesia by air transportation with most of the traffic concentrated at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang and Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali.
Read also: Tourism Ministry issues new policies for international airlines
The ministry is currently trying to achieve this year’s target of attracting 15 million foreign tourists to the country; it is still two million short of reaching the targeted number.
To tackle the issue, the ministry has formed a special unit called the Air Accessibility Improvement Team led by a special staff member for the infrastructure sector, Judi Rifajantoro, and a technical expert for the air connectivity sector, Robert Waloni.
Read also: Bali ranked top 10 Asia Pacific destinations in total nights, money spent
The team has three main objectives, to communicate with the ministry regarding traffic rights between countries and to speed up the process of creating a new route; to build business coordination between related parties to ensure airports’ availability for an additional slot-time whenever there is a new airline route or an increase in airline flight frequency; and to build a partnership with airlines and wholesalers to attract more foreign tourists.
The ministry also introduced two partnership programs, namely a promotion partnership for regular flight routes and an incentive program for those who manage to bring foreign tourists to travel new routes using chartered flights. (kes)
