Bali Governor, I Wayan Koster has urged the Director of Garuda Indonesia to reduce its ticket prices for flights to Bali.
Koster also asked the Indonesian Minister of Small and Medium Business, Teten Masduki to initiate a travel campaign to show the people that traveling by airplane is now safe.
“It would be a lot better if they give people a better price for the ticket, because I’ve seen huge difference. Especially with the business class, previously it cost around USD $572 (IDR 8 million) for a round trip ticket from Jakarta to Denpasar, but now it costs around USD $1,071 (IDR 15 million)” Koster said during a Cash Assistance Event on Saturday Nov 14th 2020.
Koster said that he has already contacted the Director of Garuda Indonesia and that he used to be a college friend.
He explained to the Director that Bali is welcoming domestic tourists back as the Covid-19 cases in Bali have significantly dropped through strict health and safety protocols with an over 92% of recovery rate.
He said that Garuda Indonesia can help support a further recovery of the Bali economy.
Bali has been welcoming back domestic tourists since July 31st 2020, but Koster was disappointed that the island hasn’t seen a significant number of visitors.
“We broke a record for tourist arrivals [during the pandemic] in October after months of zero visitors. Especially on the last week of October, thousands of people arrived in Bali each day by air” Koster said.
He added that most of the Bali tourism economy hasn’t recovered and won’t until Indonesia starts allowing international tourists.
Source: The Bali Sun