REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia's flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia, plans to step up the frequency of chartered flights from China to Indonesia to further explore the potential of the aviation market.

The Vice President of Garuda Indonesia for China Region I, Wayan Subagja, said on Tuesday that the potential of the Chinese market, with its population of 1.3 billion, was very profitable.

"We will invite chartered flight partners and develop markets outside our conventional markets, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guang Zho," he said.

According to Subagja, there were many secondary cities, which had remained unexplored by Garuda, and many foreigners were interested in visiting Indonesia.

He pointed out that during the Lunar New Year holiday season this year, Garuda had flown no less than 58,000 passengers from China on chartered flights to Indonesia from 10 cities outside China's three major cities.

"Most of them visited Bali and Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara), and some went to Manado (North Sulawesi)", he said.

The Garuda management hopes that boosting the number of flights to China will help support government's program to attract more foreign tourists to Indonesia.

The deputy for Foreign Tourism Marketing at the Tourism Ministry, I Gde Pitana, welcomed Garuda's efforts to increase both regular and chartered flights from China to Indonesia. He said China was one of Indonesia's main tourism market.

This year the ministry is targeting at least 2 million Chinese tourist visits to Indonesia, Pitana noted.

"We are trying out a new sales mission, including direct selling for Indonesian tour packages, promoting through advertising in the Chinese media, and also introducing new tours to Indonesia," he said.

The ministry has also increased its promotional budget specifically to explore the Chinese market.

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