Reopen the route

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno on Tuesday informed that the New Zealand - Indonesia flights route has been reopened.

"The Auckland-Denpasar flight route has resumed starting March 29 (2023),” Uno said here.

According to him, foreign tourists from New Zealand are quality tourists as they have a positive impact on tourism and the creative economy in the country.

New Zealand tourists spend a lot and stay longer, with their length of stay reaching 10.3 days and average spending reaching US$1,376 per person, which is equivalent to that of European tourists, he explained.

With the reopening of its Auckland-Denpasar route, Air New Zealand will operate flights thrice a week, every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, and carry 255 passengers per flight.

The minister said that New Zealand is one of the potential markets for the tourism sector, as before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were more than 131 thousand New Zealanders visiting Indonesia.

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The ministry is targeting to attract 150 thousand New Zealanders to Indonesia in the next two to three years.

More route will be opened

In addition to the New Zealand - Indonesia flight route, Uno revealed that several international flight routes to Indonesia will be opened, including Air Asia's Jakarta-Phnom Penh route (from April 19) and Trans Nusa's Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur route (from April 14).

"Currently, the route that has been opened includes Sri Lanka Airlines' Jakarta-Colombo (which operates) seven times a week with two thousand seats/week," he informed.

This year, direct flights between Indonesia and India are also being planned by IndiGo on the Mumbai-Jakarta and Hyderabad-Kualanamu routes, he said.

According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the number of foreign tourist visits to Indonesia doubled in 2022 compared to the previous period during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most of the foreign tourists in Indonesia came from neighboring countries, such as Malaysia, Timor Leste, Australia, and Singapore.

The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs is targeting to generate a revenue of Rp111.7 trillion (US$7.5 billion) from national tourism this year.