TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Association of Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) planned to stage a rally in State Palace, Jakarta to demand a lower airfare and annulment of paid baggage policy.

Head of Asita of West Nusa Tenggara, Dewantoro Umbu Joka, said that all members of regional Asita throughout Indonesia will join the protest that will take place on February 28. “We will demand the government review airlines ticket price and paid baggage rule,” said Umbu Joka Monday, February 11 in Mataram.

The airliners’ decision in raising airfare has beset the tourism sector, including NTB particularly Lombok as a renowned tourist site.

“We know that shopping is part of tourism cultures of domestic tourist, which is different than the foreign tourist. Due to the implementation of paid baggage regulation, tourists’ interest to go shopping drops, and that leads to a declining number of tourist arrival,” he explained.

Umbu Joka mentioned that members of Asita amounted to 7,000 people in Indonesia. In NTB alone, it reaches 160 people, not to mention the staffers. “So many people are affected by the high airfare and paid baggage rule,” he underlined.

The issues, he opined, could not be handled by regional administration as it requires intervention from the central government.

“The government want to develop the tourism sector to boost the economy of the small community. But it is not followed by supporting policies on tourism. It is surely a bizarre matter for us,” he said, adding that the rally is expected to encourage the government to seek a way out to prevent the death of tourism sector, moreover for NTB that is currently recovering from devastating earthquakes.

ANTARA