REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Deputy of the Ministry of Tourism's International Marketing Development I Gde Pitana believed that the direct flight from Jakarta to London, launched by Garuda Indonesia airlines, will boost the country's tourism sector.
During the official launch of the direct flight route at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Terminal 3 on Tuesday, Pitana stated that the direct flight routes are some of the main elements for success in the expansion of the country's tourism sector, as most international tourists use flights as means of transportation to visit the country.
He further stated that Great Britain is one of Indonesia's main markets for the tourism sector, as there has been a 17 percent increase in the number of visitors coming from the country last year, compared to 2015, with 328 thousand people.
For this year, his office has targeted to attract 384 thousand visitors from Britain, while 224,668 tourists from Britain had visited Indonesia till August.
"It was recorded that there were 1.1 million British tourists who had visited Thailand, while 500 thousand visited Singapore in the same year. We were trying to identify why there were only around 300 thousand visitors from Britain who came to Indonesia. After carrying out a review process, it was apparent that there were direct flights from Britain to those countries," he revealed.
For that reason, he was optimistic that Indonesia could achieve its targeted number of tourists from the United Kingdom by opening direct flight routes.
"We are challenging Garuda Indonesia to come up with more ideas after this launch, and we are ready to handle the European market," he remarked.
A similar statement was made by British Ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik who believed that the direct flight could open the gates for tourists who previously only visited Thailand to come to Indonesia this time.
"There are going to be a lot of potentials that can attract tourists to Indonesia," he reiterated.
Moreover, with the 'Kangaroo Route,' which connects the United Kingdom with Indonesia and Australia, the potentials to attract more tourists to Indonesia will be even more vast, he pointed out.
The Jakarta-London-Jakarta flight route is indeed connected with Garuda Indonesia's schedule to fly to and from Australia.
The flag carrier will operate non-stop flights from and to London Heathrow thrice a week, which will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, with the Boeing 777-300 ER airplane having a capacity of 314 passengers. There will be eight first class seats, 38 business class seats, and 268 economy class seats.
The direct flight, bearing the flight number GA 086, from Jakarta to London will leave at 12.05a.m. local time and is scheduled to reach London by 3a.m. local time.
The flight from London to Jakarta will depart from Heathrow Airport at 4.55a.m. and will land in Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 6.55p.m. local time.
Previously, Garuda Indonesia operated a flight from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport to London's Heathrow Airport with a layover in Singapore, while the return route was a direct one without any transit.
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