PUNE: In a move aimed at drawing more tourists from Mumbai and adjoining cities in western India, the Indonesian national carrier Garuda will launch a twice-a-week direct flight service connecting Mumbai with Denpasar, in the Bali province,
from April 23.
“The frequency of the flight service will be increased to thrice a week (Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays) from June 2. A proposal for another direct flight from Silangit in north Sumatra to Mumbai is also under consideration,” Ade Sukendar, Indonesia’s Consul General in Mumbai, told TOI during an exclusive interaction here on Tuesday.
“For now, the
Mumbai-Bali flight will operate on Monday and Thursday. This will be convenient for Indian tourists to visit other destinations,” he explained, adding, “We have set a target of 7 lakh Indian tourists visiting Indonesia in 2018 as against the 4.85 lakh Indian tourists in 2017. Half the number of Indian tourists visited Bali last year.”
According to Sukendar, tourism, along with information technology (IT), education, health care and pharmaceuticals, ranks among the priority areas to boost cooperation between Indonesia and India. “There are at least 10 destinations in Indonesia that we want to promote for tourism in a big way,” he said. At least 1 lakh persons of Indian origin live in India and 10,000 visit the province of Jakarta every year, he shared.
Sukendar, who took over as Indonesia’s new consul general in Mumbai on March 5, is on a three-day visit to Pune to promote cooperation in trade, business and education.
Bilateral cooperation has increased particularly after Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s visit to India in 2016 and, more recently, in January this year for the ASEAN summit. “Both governments are committed to taking up trade and business ties to a new level and all efforts are directed towards this goal,” he said.
Sukendar observed that issues like India’s decision to effect a 40% hike in the import tariff on palm oil is bound to affect the price of cooking oil imported from Indonesia. However, there is a need to find a solution to this issue and much hope lies in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Indonesia in the next two months, he stated.
The consul general conceded that the student and faculty exchange between Indonesia and India has not been to the level expected. “We want to see that more Indonesian students visit India, particularly Pune. Indian companies’ involvement in the annual trade expo organized by Indonesia is also desired to grow more. Last year, Indian companies transacted $105 million at this expo and we want the numbers to grow further,” he added.
