Nataru Holiday Coinciding With Campaign Period, Garuda Boss Pede Number Of Passengers Increases 30 Percent

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Garuda Indonesia has predicted an increase in the number of passenger traffic during the 2023 Christmas and 2024 New Year holidays.

The reason is, this year-end holiday period coincides with the general election campaign period (Pemilu).

President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra, said the increase in the number of passengers is expected to reach 30 percent of the average number of passengers in the normal period.

"There is an increase in the number of passengers, so we are monitoring. This is actually an increase in the extent to which. But like the previous year we estimated there would be an increase of around 20-30 percent of passengers," said Irfan at the Jakarta Parliament Building, Thursday, November 16.

"This year, we hope to approach 30 percent because apart from holidays there is a campaign," he continued.

Ahead of the year-end holiday period which coincides with the 2024 General Election, Irfan admitted that he continues to monitor the sales of Garuda Indonesia Group aircraft tickets, including Citilink.

Furthermore, Irfan admitted, if there is an increasing trend, then it is not impossible that his party will increase the number of flights again.

He is also optimistic that the seat occupancy rate on the plane will be full.

"We will certainly be aware of movements related to campaigns. That's what we are still preparing, as well as for the plane," he explained.

Regarding the favorite domestic tourist destination, Irfan said, Bali was still ranked first.

Meanwhile, for international destinations or overseas destinations, Singapore is still in demand.

However, Irfan will also encourage and support the development of other tourist destinations such as Labuan Bajo to Lombok.

"Now we encourage a lot of destinations promoted by the state, Bajo anchorage, Lombok and supporting cities. But the increase is not appropriate for Bali and Singapore. Bali is Eid number one and Naru is also certain," he said.

To encourage foreign tourists to come to Indonesia during the holiday period at the end of this year, Irfan said he would hold a Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair (GATF) program abroad.

"Next week we will do GATF International. In Indonesia, we invite them to travel, if abroad Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, we hope that they can vote more in Indonesia," he said.