Has been long awaited especially by Indonesian community who lives here, Garuda Indonesia finally held its travel fair in Australia. After holding a travel exhibition in Perth and Melbourne simultaneously on 7-9 December, "Wonderful Indonesia - Garuda Travel Fair" is also presented in Sydney.
The exhibition takes place in Martin Place Sydney on 10-11 December, started with Merak or Peacock (West Java) and Gandrung (Banyuwangi) dances by dancers from Widyaluvtari Studio Melbourne.
'Tari Merak' at the opening of Wonderful Indonesia - Garuda Travel Fair in Martin Place (10/12) Source: SBS Indonesian
Judi Rifajantoro, the Special Staff for Access and Infrastructure of the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism conveyed to SBS Indonesian that Australia is one of the top five Indonesian tourism markets - together with China, Europe, Singapore and India - that is important to pay attention to.
"Australia is important, so we need to really do a good promotion so that (the number) will continue to increase," he said.
This is also in line with what was spoke by the Indonesian Consul General for NSW, Queensland and South Australia, Heru Hartanto Subolo, in his opening remark which called the importance of strategic partnerships between the two countries including in the tourism sector.
Mr Rifajantoro added that the travel fair agenda was carried out to support efforts to increase the number of Australian tourists to visit Indonesia.
"Because we see that (the number) of tourists from Australia is quite stagnant in the last two years. We will try to improve it," he said.
When asked why this stagnation occurred, he mentioned that there was still much to be done so that Australians would not only explore Bali.
"It seems that from the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism or from the Indonesian tourism industry should provide other attractive alternatives. So far they only know Bali, even though we have a lot of other (destinations). Now this seems that these haven't been socialised yet ... haven't been massively marketed ".
More than 1.2 million Australians visited Indonesia over the past year. This year, Indonesia estimates that it will welcome a total of 17 million international tourists, of which 1.3 million are from Australia.
Ribbon cutting as the official opening of 'Wonderful Indonesia - Garuda Travel Fair' in Sydney (10/12). Source: SBS Indonesian
This number is not impossible to achieve, given the unique character of Australian visitors.
"Australia is one of the most stubborn markets. That is to say, even though there is travel ban or whatever they are still coming," said Adella Raung, Director of Tourism Marketing for Australia, New Zealand and Oceania Region of the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism.
"Especially when we're talking about Bali which is already like their backyard," he added.
I Nyoman Sunia Sanjaya, Garuda Indonesia's Acting VP for the South West Pacific Region & New Zealand, said that this exhibition was also an effort to support the Indonesian government to reach the target of 20 million international tourists by 2019.
Monthly visits of foreign tourists to Indonesia, 2018 vs 2017 Source: website Kemenpar RI
"Hopefully this first one will be successful so that the next ones can be periodic," he said.
From the two-day exhibition, Mr Sanjaya said that the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism has targeted an additional 5,000 Australians to board Garuda and visit Indonesia, excluding the monthly target set.
When asked whether there were plans for the airline to add direct flight destinations from Australia to other entrances other than Denpasar and Jakarta in Indonesia, Mr Sanjaya said that the national carrier had conducted related reviews on flying directly from Australia to Lombok, Yogyakarta and several other cities in Indonesia and is still waiting for the results of the review. But added that Garuda Indonesia has a flight network to go anywhere in Indonesia.
Currently Garuda Indonesia operates more than 37 direct flights to Australia every week, connecting Jakarta and Denpasar with Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
