Garuda Indonesia Rejects Tourism Fee on Flight Tickets Saying It Burdens Passengers

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Garuda Indonesia president director Irfan Saputra said he did not agree with the government's plan to impose tourism fees on airline tickets. Irfan said that imposing tourism fees through plane tickets would only raise ticket prices, further burdening the passengers.

"I don't agree with it being included in the ticket price," he said Wednesday, April 24.

News of the plan first surfaced after Alvin Lie, a member of the Indonesian National Association of Airline Companies' Council of Experts, uploaded a photo of a letter from the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs inviting him to a meeting. The letter said that the meeting agenda was to discuss "charging tourism fees through flight tickets".

If this plan is implemented by the government, Alvin said, passengers in general will not know that there are tourism fees charged through the airline tickets they buy.

"What will happen is [passengers] will blame the airlines for raising ticket prices," he said.

Meanwhile, Irfan said that airfares have not been increased for five years because airlines have to comply with the maximum fare regulations, which have also not been increased.

The increase in airfares, he said, was caused by the increase in airport tax, which was raised without the knowledge of the airline. "Because the airport tax was raised secretly two years ago, the ticket prices for passengers increased as a result," he said.

Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno confirmed that the government is planning a meeting to discuss the issue of sustainable tourism, which will include tourism taxes as one of the topics.

However, Sandiaga asked the public not to worry about the fees charged for air tickets as there is no decision and amount yet regarding the tourism funds.

Sandiaga stressed that the public will not be burdened with more expensive airfares.

In "The Weekly Brief with Sandi Uno" posted on his ministry's YouTube channel on Monday, April 22, Sandiaga said the tourism fees would be reported transparently with full disclosure. "We are requiring reporting and making sure that we are not burdening passengers with ticket fees," he said.

The government is still studying and gathering different options on how to collect the tourism fund. The amount is also still being calculated and studied. The tourism endowment fund will be used to promote national branding to support the sustainability of national activities domestically and internationally.

Panji Novali Nugroho

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