CHENNAI: The increased air connectivity and attractive packages is driving many Indians to the exotic destination of Indonesia. Latest data shows that there were 4,85,314 Indians visiting Indonesia in the whole year of 2017, which is a significant increase of almost 30 per cent in comparison to 3,76,802 visits in 2016.
Besides, there is always increase in demands for information and updates about tour packages to Bali and Indonesia as a whole. “We set initial quota of 15 industries for this sales mission, however at the end we received inquiries from more than 20 industries who wanted to participate in this event,” explains Mrs. Rizki Handayani, the acting Director of Promotion for South & Central Asia, Middle East and Africa Region.
These high growth and also increasing demand prompt the air route opening between India and Indonesia. After Garuda Indonesia opened flight route from Mumbai to Jakarta on Dec.12, 2016, Indonesia AirAsia soon followed by opening Mumbai-Denpasar (Bali) route on May 20, 2017 utilising wide body aircraft of Airbus A330 and just recently on July 24, 2017, Batik Air, a subsidiary of Lion Air Group, opened Chennai-Denpasar route. However all these flights still require transits in either Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.
In view of this, Garuda Indonesia has planned to open a true direct flight connecting Mumbai and Denpasar (Bali) pending approval from Bali airport authorities. Indians are also offered variety of connection flights including with Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air, AirAsia, and more. Looking at this opportunity, it is reasonable that the Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia set a big target of 7,00,000 Indians coming to Indonesia in 2018, she said.
For Indians, Bali is still the prime destination in Indonesia. The similarities in cultural and religious background make Indians feel comfortable conducting their excursion to Bali. “Over 50 per cent of Indian tourists visiting Indonesia entered through the Ngurah Rai International Airport of Bali,” says Mrs. Handayani.
