REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Tourism Minister Arif Yahya reminded the national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia to continue to strengthen its foothold on the domestic market.

"We have a huge domestic market. Garuda would remain should be strong if it is strong on the domestic flight market," Arif Yahya said here on Friday.

Last year , there were 255 million domestic air travels, he said, adding this year the number is forecast to rise to 260 million travels.

"If one travel cost only Rp1 million, it would mean a circulation of Rp260 trillion in the market," he said after opening Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair (GATF) 2016 at the Jakarta Convention Center.

The minister said if the domestic market of tourism has been strong it would be easier to expand international market.

He said Singapore and Malaysia are no match to Indonesia in the potential of domestic market.

Singapore even hardly has domestic market and Malaysia is much smaller than Indonesia in domestic market,e he said.

Indonesia has set a target to draw 20 million foreign tourists in 2019.

Last year, there were around 10.41 million arrivals of foreign visitors to Indonesia with spending of around US$11.89 billion visits.

President Director of Garuda Indonesia Arif Wibowo said GATF is held twice a year , adding GATF 2016 is also held in 13 cities at the same time.

GATF 2016 in Jakarta was participated in by 48 Travel Agents, 12 Hotels & Resort, 4 National Tourism Organizations, 23 Theme Parks & Travel Equipment, 24 industrial companies with BNI as bankin partners.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika