Indonesia to reopen Australia tourist office

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28/02/2005

Indonesia to reopen Australia tourist office

Strong growth in business and holiday travel to Indonesia will see the republic reopen its tourist office in Sydney this year as Garuda Indonesia expands its Australian flight capacity by around 20 per cent.

The deputy minister of marketing for the country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Udin Saifuddin, said Indonesia attracted a total of 420,000 business and private visitors from Australia in 2004.

Overall visitor arrivals exceeded five million last year and tourism became the second largest earner after energy (oil and gas).

He said Indonesia was aiming for 500,000 visitors from Australia in 2005 and would reopen its Australian tourist office in the second half of the year as part of an expansion which would also see new offices in Japan and China.

The new Sydney office, initially to be an outsourced operation, would help Indonesia capitalise on booming interest in Bali while helping to grow interest in other Indonesian destinations, Garuda regional manager Australia, New Zealand and the US Iriansyah Antemas said .

“Demand is being driven by the quality and diversity of business and holiday product available in Indonesia as well as value among the best in the world,” Iriansyah said.

He said Garuda would unveil plans to expand its capacity from Australia to cater for holiday and business travel before June.

The carrier already offers the greatest frequency of flights to Bali from Australia, 24 weekly flights ex Australia and two more ex Auckland and Brisbane, and is the only airline to offer business class from all its ports.

The airline will introduce new aircraft into its existing fleet for Australia, with the Perth route to receive the largest aircraft, the Boeing 737-800, after strong growth.

Iriansyah also said major investment was being made in new convention and infrastructure projects throughout the republic.

28 February 2005

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