Raising Regional Economies

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

A Lion Air plane takes off from Adi Soemarmo Airport, Boyolali regency, Central Java, on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018. The presence of low-cost airlines has increased air travel as a mode of transportation.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Low-cost flights are becoming widely available along with the development of regional airports and are helping to support regional economies, especially in the tourism industry. People can more easily reach tourist destinations.

Easing access to tourist destinations increases the number of visiting tourists. Several airports are even serving passengers beyond their capacity.

Kualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang regency served 10 million passengers in 2017, even though it has a passenger capacity of 9 million. Meanwhile, 282,000 passengers in 2017 passed through Silangit International Airport in North Tapanuli regency, a 50 percent year-on-year increase.

The two North Sumatra airports serve flights to the priority tourist destination of Lake Toba. Visitors traveling to Lake Toba can fly to Silangit airport from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport as well as Kualanamu airport. Direct international flights are available from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data for January-September 2018 shows that 165,531 of 11.93 million foreign tourists to Indonesia flew into Kualanamu airport.

Indonesia recorded US$17 billion in net foreign exchange earnings from the tourist industry in 2017.

Kualanamu airport public relations and protocol manager Wisnu Budi Setianto said in Medan, North Sumatra, that the airport handled 83,859 domestic and international flights in 2017, of which 70 percent were low-cost flights.

The airport has continued to exceed its flight capacity, which Wisnu said would be increased from 70,841 flights per year to 92,190 flights per year. The passenger terminal will also be expanded so the airport serve 17 million passengers per year.

Meanwhile, about 85 percent of all flights serving Silangit airport were low-cost flights. The airport estimates an increase in passengers to about 400,000 this year.

“We will increase the airport’s capacity by expanding the runway, increasing the number of terminals, and building other supporting facilities,” said Silangit airport executive general manager M. Hendra Irawan.

In Yogyakarta, low-cost flights have also contributed to an increase in tourists to the city. "If the airfares are low, it helps consumers to use air transportation," said Yogyakarta Tourism Agency head Aris Riyanta.

Aris said the development of regional tourism depended on several factors, such as transportation, accommodation and tourist attractions. The availability of affordable flights to tourist destinations was a significant factor for transportation.

Regional Leadership Council chairman Sudiyanto of the Yogyakarta Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Companies (Asita Yogyakarta) said that low-cost airlines made it possible for travel agencies to keep their rates low. In addition, they were able to offer more transportation options to tourists.

Sudiyanto said that airfares were one of the biggest costs in tourism. Therefore, if the cost of flights could be kept low by through using low-cost flights, the overall travel costs would also drop dramatically.

General manager Agus Pandu Purnama of Yogyakarta’s Adisucipto International Airport said that low-cost flights were a choice for consumers who wanted to depart quickly at more affordable costs.

Main support

North Tapanuli Regent Nikson Nababan said that air transport was the backbone of tourism in the Lake Toba region. ”New hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops continue to grow since the Jakarta-Silangit route opened in 2016. Tourism has also grown more rapidly since the Kuala Lumpur-Silangit international route opened in October 2018,” he said.

Samosir Tourism Agency head Ombang Siboro shared Nikson’s view. Ombang said foreign and domestic tourists to Samosir had increased since the Jakarta-Silangit and Kuala Lumpur-Silangit routes opened.

Nanci Manalu, a Medan resident, said she had travelled to several regions in the country by taking advantage of promotional cheap flights. She preferred low-cost flights so she could save on her travel costs and spend more on souvenirs.

“Moreover, I don’t really need to be served meals, beverages or blankets on the plane,” she said.

However, Bali Tourism Agency head Anak Agung Gede Yuniarta pointed to the negative impacts of the increasing availability of low-cost flights. On Bali, these impacts included higher road density, expanding developments of hotels, residences and restaurants, as well as environmental problems.

Yuniarta said it was expected that tourists to Bali would contribute to the regional economy, such as by shopping at Balinese stores and markets.

(NSA/HRS/AYS)