Minister Of Transportation: Transportation Connectivity Supports ASEAN Tourism Growth

Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Budi Karya Sumadi said connectivity in the transportation sector helped support the growth of the tourism sector in the ASEAN region.

According to him, the collaboration between these two sectors is needed to support each other in efforts to recover the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We continue to increase transportation connectivity after the pandemic to support the growth of the tourism sector which is equally affected," said the Minister of Transportation as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, November 10.

The Minister of Transportation in a meeting of senior leaders and officials in the transportation sector throughout ASEAN which took place in Laos on Friday said that currently the national aviation sector has experienced post-pandemic recovery, which reached 85 percent for domestic flights and 75 percent for international flights based on September 2023 data.

He welcomed and appreciated the ASEAN Secretariat for taking the initiative to hold a meeting between leaders in the transportation and tourism sectors in ASEAN today.

According to him, this recovery is faster than other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

However, there are still challenges that need to be overcome regarding the increase in aviation fuel prices, limited availability of spare parts, and reduced number of aircraft fleets, amid the increasing number of airplane passengers and public expectations of affordable flight ticket rates.

In addition, the Minister of Transportation also revealed that the shipping sector for cruise ships (cruise) was also greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which this industry experienced a very significant decline of up to 91.67 percent in 2020.

In order to support the increasing cruise ship industry that will support the tourism sector, Indonesia has increased the number of ports to facilitate the departure and arrival of cruise ships to Indonesia.

"Along with the easing of travel restrictions and improving conditions of the pandemic, in the last two years it has begun to increase gradually," he said.