GARUDA INDONESIA OFFERS SPECIAL SERVICES DURING CHINESE NEW YEAR By Fardah

    Jakarta, Feb 19, 2015 (Antara) - As the Chinese are increasingly traveling overseas for Lunar New Year, or Imlek, Garuda Indonesia has come up with both regular and charter flight services to fly Chinese holidaymakers to Bali Island.

         "Chinese New Year is identical to homebound traveling. But, over the past few years, many Chinese have preferred to travel overseas with their family members," Wang Zhuli of Caissa Touristic travel bureau remarked.

         China is a potential market for Indonesia. On an average, more than 100 million Chinese travel overseas every year.          
    Almost one million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia last year, and for this year, Indonesia has set a target to double their number.

        With some 883,725 Chinese tourists visiting the country between January and November 2014, China is currently the fourth-largest source of tourists for Indonesia.

         The largest tourism source markets for Indonesia is Singapore (1.32 million), followed by Malaysia (1.12 million), and Australia (996,032).

         "If our expectation in 2014 was to receive one million Chinese tourists, we are optimistic that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia will reach two million by the end of 2015," Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said recently.

         The Chinese celebrate New Year 2015 on February 19. The Chinese government has allowed a week's holiday for the New Year celebrations.

        The Chinese Civil Aviation Administration has forecast that some 29 million Chinese opted for air travel during Imlek 2015; this is an increase of around 12.5 percent as compared to last year.

         Indonesian air carrier Garuda Indonesia has spotted great business opportunity in this growing trend and has created a plan to lure more Chinese tourists.

        Garuda has set a target to fly some 50 thousand Chinese tourists during the Imlek holiday season 2015 by regular and charter flight services.

        Some 27,000 Chinese passengers will be carried on chartered planes and 23,000 others by regular flights. 
   The Indonesian air carrier has started charter flight service from 10 Chinese cities with Bali as the destination from January 29 to March 29, 2015, Garuda Indonesia's Deputy President for Chinese Region I Wayan Subagia said.

        The 10 cities are Harbin, Xi'an, Shenyang, Chengzhou, Tiayuan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Ningbo, Wuhan, and Nanjing. "The average seat occupancy rate has reached 100 percent," he revealed.

        "Since January 29 until February 13, charter flights have carried around 5,323 people and have recorded 100 percent occupancy rate," Subagia said.

        The Indonesian Tourism Industry Association's (GIPI's) Bali chapter has forecast an increase of up to 12 percent in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Bali during the New Year.

        "During the long Imlek holidays, the number of Chinese tourists always surges at an average 12 percent," GIPI's Bali chapter Chairman Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya stated in Denpasar, Bali, on Feb. 19, 2015.

        With the influx of Chinese tourists, the occupancy rate at the island's hotels is also expected to increase during the current season, which is supposedly lean.

        However, Ngurah Wijaya stated that Chinese tourists usually do not stay long in Bali. A Chinese tourist spends on average less than US$100 per day and stays for up to two or three days on Bali Island.

        "Chinese tourists are still categorized under mass tourism and not under medium or high tourism," he noted.

        Some 80 percent of Chinese tourists to Indonesia visit Bali.

        Therefore, said the CEO of the five-star airline, Arif Wibowo, Garuda Indonesia has been focusing its international flight services on China.

        "China is the main focus of Indonesia's tourism industry, besides Australia, Japan, Korea, and Russia," he revealed.     
   Wibowo pointed out that Garuda's flights to China has received a positive response over the last decade thanks to the large number of Chinese people traveling abroad.

        The CEO further noted that Garuda was expected to be able to fly more passengers from China to Indonesia this year. Occupancy rate can be increased from 200 to 300 thousand recorded in previous years to 500 to 600 thousand in 2015.

        Indonesia, however, is still not the main destination of Chinese holidaymakers celebrating Lunar New Year, a Chinese official has said.

        According to the Chinese Administrative Office of Tourism estimates, 5.19 million Chinese traveled overseas during Imlek holidays this year.

        Their most favored destinations have been South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Maldives, and Singapore.

        Garuda Indonesia's Deputy President for Chinese Region I Wayan Subagia noted Indonesia faces stiff competition from Thailand and Maldives for attracting Chinese tourists.

        "Indonesia has many spots that are not less attractive than those in Thailand or Maldives. Therefore, we need to improve our tourism attractions," he added.

        The tourism ministry has more homework to do as many Chinese people hardly know about Indonesia or Bali, he pointed out.

        The Indonesian government has set a target for attracting 12 million foreign tourists in 2015. ***1***
(f001/INE)
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