During The COVID-19 Pandemic, Garuda Indonesia Is Even Chasing Foreign Tourists To Come To Indonesia

JAKARTA - PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk will change its business target. This state-owned airline stated that it will focus on bringing foreign tourists (tourists) to Indonesia to encourage national tourism again.

President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Irfaniaputra said that the change in business targets was reflected in the large contribution of the company in fact bringing Indonesian citizens (WNI) on vacation abroad. Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia is weak in bringing foreign tourists to the country.

"Garuda is very focused on sending Indonesians outside but is not good at bringing outsiders to Indonesia," said Irfan, in a virtual discussion held by the Jakarta Chief Marketing Club (CMO) in Jakarta, Wednesday, July 8.

Another reason, said Irfan, was that the total expenditure of Indonesian tourists abroad over the past year reached 80 billion US dollars. This is inversely proportional to the spending on foreign tourists coming to Indonesia, especially those brought by Garuda Indonesia.

However, although it wants to focus on bringing foreign tourists to Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic, Garuda Indonesia does not want to just bring in foreign tourists.

Irfan emphasized that his party only wanted to bring in foreign tourists from countries that had the ability to spend money (spending) at tourist attractions. The aim is none other than to have an impact on the economy of the people in the visiting area.

Furthermore, Irfan admitted that he did not want the incidence of Chinese tourists who came in large numbers to Indonesia but did not provide benefits to the Balinese people.

"We also bring Chinese tourists to Denpasar, they mostly shop for mattresses in Bali, because they get a discount. Even though the mattresses are in a factory in China. But the transactions are carried out in Bali and paid for by e-wallet. This means we don't get anything. what, "he explained.

According to Irfan, currently his party together with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy are looking for ways so that in the future Garuda can focus more on bringing in foreign tourists rather than bringing Indonesian citizens abroad.

One way, said Irfan, is by opening direct flight routes to several countries in America and Europe. This flight directly connects the two countries with the Island of the Gods.

Irfan said, with this direct flight, it is hoped that tourists from Europe and America will not stop by (transit) in Dubai, Singapore or Bangkok.

Furthermore, Irfan said, foreign tourists brought by Garuda to Denpasar, are expected to also visit Labuan Bajo, Raja Ampat, and other domestic tourist destinations.

"Their spending capability is much higher. This is what we must focus on bringing foreign exchange into this country," he explained.

Apart from Europe and the US, Irfan mentioned Indian tourists as a potential market. In fact, India was included in the business plan to open a new Garuda Indonesia route to Denpasar at the beginning of the year but had to be delayed due to the pandemic.

"We will get great support from the Ministry of Tourism to fly directly from India. The market there is large and there is an interesting market segment that we can bring to Bali," he said.