It hopes to increase the number of international tourists attracted by the Garuda Online Travel Fair (GOTF) by 42.86 percent to 20,000 this year. The GOTF is a complement to the Garuda Travel Fair (GATF).

The first phase of the fair will be held from May 3 to 9 and aims at generate Rp 180 billion (US$12.99 million) from ticket sales.

Garuda Indonesia president director Pahala N. Mansury said as tickets could be purchased digitally, the online travel fair erased the boundaries inherent in the offline travel fair.

“With GOTF, anyone can get the special deals anywhere in the world. Through this event, we are encouraging inbound travelers [to Indonesia],” he said on Thursday.

Buyers can participate in the event through Garuda’s official app, the company website and the GOTF website. The channels will even be available in eight languages, including English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Dutch, among others.

Garuda will offer discounts of up to 70 percent for the tickets, which will be added to by cashbacks of between Rp 10 million (US$721.7) and Rp 15 million for holders of cards of state-owned lender Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), the official partner of the airline.

Pahala added that at present, 50 percent of foreign tourists still chose to fly to Denpasar, Bali, the country’s main tourism gateway.

“But, there are several other destinations that have shown positive trends [in visits], including Lombok [West Nusa Tenggara] and Labuan Bajo [East Nusa Tenggara],” he said.

The GOTF is also being used to promote alternative tourist destinations, including Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara and Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi.

Pahala added that Garuda had seen an increasing surge in Chinese tourists in line with the national trend. Tourists from China have dominated foreign arrivals in the past two years, overtaking Singapore, thanks to an increase in direct flights and charter flights between China and Indonesian cities.

GOTF would provide an additional 25 percent discount for Chinese tourists, he added.

Last year, Indonesia welcomed 1.9 million Chinese visitors, up by around 32 percent from 2016, according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). This year, the government is seeking to welcome 3.2 million visitors from China to support its goal to attract 17 million foreign tourists.

Garuda cargo and international commerce director Sigit Muhartono expected that 70 percent of the transactions from GOTF would be international flights.

Of the overall international flights, 30 percent was expected to be booked by inbound tourists.

“From the 30 percent, we hope China can make up 30 to 40 percent of the total,” he said, adding that Chinese tourists might outnumber Singaporean tourists this year.

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