JAKARTA - The Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Salahudin Uno received information from the airline AirAsia which is committed to reopening international flight routes in Belitung, Bangka Belitung Islands Province. The two international flight routes that are planned to be re-opened are flights from Belitung to Singapore and Belitung to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
"Those who have received a commitment from AirAsia," he said after participating in the 2022 Belitung Triathlon at the Sheraton Belitung Resort, Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Tourism, Belitung as quoted by Antara, Sunday, May 29.
He has communicated with AirAsia CEO, Tony Fernandes regarding the plan to reopen the two international flight routes. "Tony Fernandes is very interested in reopening direct (international) flights," he said.
He added that the reopening of international flight routes is quite important, considering that Malaysia and Singapore have the potential to become Belitung's tourism markets.
Malaysia and Singapore are the two countries that contribute the largest number of tourists to Indonesia so far, in 2019 tourists from Malaysia to Indonesia were recorded as 2.98 million tourists and Singapore 1.93 million tourists.
"Because in Belitung there is eco tourism and this is a foreign market. Then Belitung has a Geopark that gets the highest rating from Unesco," he said.
He said, in addition to encouraging and trying to re-open the international flight route, his party also continues to communicate with domestic airlines to increase the frequency of flights to Belitung.
He hopes that the international flight route can be reopened in order to increase tourist visits and stimulate the economy in the area.
"In the next few weeks we will strengthen flights from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. It is possible for other airlines that have collaborated, such as Jet Star, Vietnam Air, VietJetAir, and several other international flights," he said.
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