Garuda Indonesia slashes flight fares by 50% to 10 tourist locations

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Indonesian national carrier Garuda Indonesia will be slashing its flight fares to 10 tourist destinations, as part of the government’s move to maintain tourism numbers despite the COVID-19 situation. These 10 locations include Batam Island, Bali, Yogyakarta, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara, Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, Malang in East Jaba, Manado in North Sulawesi, Toba in north Sumatra, Tanjung Pandan in Bangka Belitung and Tanjung Pinang in Riau Islands.

Along with its budget airline Citilink, Garuda will set aside 65,000 seats at discounted rates, according to The Jakarta Globe. The news article reported that the Indonesian government has assigned IDR443 billion from the state budget to dock ticket fares on domestic flights by 30%. In addition, the government has also requested state-run oil company Pertamina and airport operators Angkasa Pura and Airnav to decrease fuel and ground handling costs, which ultimately make up the flight fares.

The overall measurements will enable approximately 50% off the 10 tourist destinations, the news report read. Marketing Interactive has reached out to Garuda Indonesia for comment. Garuda president director Irfan Setiaputra said in a media statement that the airline supports the government’s initiatives to counter the fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak. He added that as per the government’s directive, the discounted air fares will apply from March to end of May 2020.

This comes shortly after the Indonesian president Jokowi Widodo was mulling on providing discounts to foreign tourists visiting Indonesian tourist destinations. The government however, decided on assigning IDR300 billion to lure international visitors to Indonesia. The sum includes a IDR98.5 billion which will be handed to domestic airlines and travel agencies to offer incentives and discounts.

The government also recently announced a stimulus package worth IDR 10.3 trillion (SG$1 billion) to aid businesses and consumers as the nation's tourism sector gets impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak over the past few months. According to several media outlets, during a cabinet meeting, ministers announced that a numbers of measures that will be undertaken by the government.

A Reuters news article reported that Indonesia's economy faced its lowest growth in three years. In the same article, Indonesia's finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said China is Indonesia's top trade partner and one of its source of investment and tourism. As such, the COVID-19 outbreak in China could potentially slow the growth to 4.7%, which falls below the Indonesian government's goal of 5.3%.

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