TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno hoped that the price of airplane tickets during the year-end holiday period will not increase significantly and remain affordable to the public. He claimed he is trying to add more flights and seat availability.

“We are coordinating this with the Transportation Ministry, airlines, as well as [tourism] actors and stakeholders in the tourism and creative economy sectors, including SOEs,” said Sandiaga at The Weekly Brief With Sandi Uno at the ministry building, Monday, October 17, 2022.

The affordability of flight tickets was expected to boost tourist visits, both foreign and domestic tourists. He said the ministry recorded more than 510,000 foreign tourists visiting Indonesia as of August.

The number reportedly continued to grow by 70 percent. “It (the target of foreign tourist visits) has been achieved in early September and there are still three months to reach the middle and upper threshold of the target of 1.8 to 3.6 million visits,” said the minister.

Sandiaga Uno also said that the ministry took a quality tourism policy. “By extending the length of their visit and increasing their spending on the local economy,” he added.

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) previously recorded 1.73 million foreign tourists entering Indonesia from January to August 2022. The figure increased by 2,028.65 percent compared to that in the same period in 2021.

RIRI RAHAYU

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News