Coordinating Minister Luhut States That Tourism is Starting to Recover

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, states that tourism is starting to recover. According to him, this can be seen from several indicators.

One of them is that flights to Bali have been consistently full recently. “Now, flights to Bali are very full,” he said during a press conference at the National Coordination Meeting for the Development of 5 Super Priority Tourism Destinations (DPSP) in Jakarta, as quoted from Antara News on Saturday (16/7).

Another indicator is the interest of airlines in opening routes to various destinations. Luhut welcomes the visit of the CEO of Air Asia, who expressed interest in increasing flights to tourist destinations.

He hopes that the entry of other private airlines into various destinations will have an impact on the recovery of the national tourism sector. However, Luhut acknowledges that the addition of flights will not happen quickly because the pandemic has led to many airline employees being laid off.

The airline crews will need time for training and other procedures after a hiatus from working in the industry. ‘We say yes, add more, but slowly. Because adding flights cannot be quick, it’s the same abroad. Because many crews are already working elsewhere. And when they come in, they need training again. The same goes for cabin crew,’ he said.

Similarly, with the condition of Garuda Indonesia, despite receiving government injections of funds, it still needs time to recover. ‘Garuda has many aircraft that have been returned to lessors. Now, revitalizing Garuda will take time for it to recover,’ said Luhut.

In the same context, Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Kartika Wirjoatmodjo stated that the government will try to encourage additional flights from Garuda Indonesia Group and Pelita Air Service to anticipate the year-end holidays.

According to Tiko, as he is commonly called, the addition of flights will be done after the completion of the Suspension of Debt Payment Obligations (PKPU) process for the state-owned airline.

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

Specifically, to support the development of the five super priority tourism destinations (DPSP), Tiko stated that state-owned enterprises would collaborate with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) to create tourism packages.

The goal is to revive the five DPSP with various tourism activities, including sports tourism. “We will create tourism packages so that traffic can increase according to the upcoming year-end holidays,” he said. (kmb/balipost)