Coordinating Minister Luhut: Fully Packed Planes To Bali Means Tourism Is Recovering

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JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that flights to Bali which were currently full are a good thing because it means tourism is starting to recover.

"Now Bali is very full," he said at a press conference at the National Coordination Meeting for the Development of 5 Super Priority Tourism Destinations (DPSP) as reported by ANTARA, Friday, July 15.

Therefore, Luhut welcomed the visit of the CEO of Air Asia who expressed interest in being able to add flights to tourist destinations. He hopes that the entry of other private airlines to a number of destinations will have an impact on the recovery of the national tourism sector.

But Luhut admits that the addition of flights will not be able to take place quickly, because the pandemic has caused many employees at the airline to be laid off. The crew on the airline will need time for training and other procedures after a hiatus from working in the industry.

"We said yes, add it, but slowly. Because adding (flights) can't be fast, abroad it's the same. Because many crews have other jobs. And if he comes in, training again. Cabin crew is the same way," he said.

Likewise with the condition of Garuda Indonesia, which even though it has received an injection of government funds, it still takes time to recover.

"Garuda's many planes have been returned to their lessors (tenants). Now Garuda is in good health, it takes more time for him to recover," said Luhut.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of SOEs Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said the government would try to encourage additional flights from the Garuda Indonesia Group and Pelita Air Service to anticipate the year-end holidays.

According to Tiko, as he is familiarly called, the addition of flights will be carried out after the process of Postponing the Debt Payment Obligation (PKPU) of the state-owned airline is completed.

"After the Garuda PKPU is completed, we are trying to increase flights from Garuda and Pelita so that the aircraft limitations can be overcome by the end of the year," he said.

Specifically to support the development of five super priority tourism destinations (DPSP), Tiko said SOEs would cooperate with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) to create tour packages.

The goal is to revive the five DPSPs with various kinds of tourism activities, including sport tourism.

"We will make a tourism package so that traffic can increase according to the year-end holidays," he said.