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AIRASIA Indonesia finally accepted the invitation of the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno to build connectivity to the super priority destination Likupang, North Sulawesi at the latest in the fourth quarter/2021.
According to AirAsia Indonesia President Director Veranita Yosephine Sinaga, said the company already operates a fleet and opens routes to 4 priority tourist destinations. Among them are Yogyakarta for Borobudur, Medan for Lake Toba, Labuan Bajo, and Lombok, leaving only Likupang, North Sulawesi.
“As a result, by opening its route to Likupang, the QZ-coded airline can complement the development of connectivity to 5 super priority destinations. What we lacked was just one Likupang. Even before the pandemic, 4 [super priority destinations] were already operating,” she said.
She explained, we hope it can be implemented in the second quarter of 2021 or the fourth quarter of 2021. If you can, the faster the better. But everything depends on the development of COVID-19. To increase the number of passengers to these tourism destinations, it can be more optimal by embracing the hotel industry.
Veranita considers that without collaboration with hotels, the public is still less confident if they only sell airplane tickets. For its execution, the national airline continues to hope that the vaccination program in Indonesia will run smoothly so that it is in line with government directions to restore the tourism industry.
“Of course, the discussion and commitment that synergizes the two [Tony Fernandes and Sandiaga Uno] strengthens the cooperation that has been built between AirAsia and the Ministry of Tourism. In what form we will adjust it to the development of the existing level of demand,” she added.
During this pandemic, Veranita continued, the low-cost airline was still actively serving 2 Super Priority destinations, namely Lombok and Yogyakarta. The route to Labuan Bajo is aware that the level of demand is still low. Meanwhile, one other destination, namely to Lake Toba, is being prepared to be reopened. [photo special]
