Garuda considering cutting int'l flights

Garuda considering cutting int'l flights

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The national air carrier Garuda is considering a steep cut of
its international flights to many international destinations as
the number of passengers is declining following the deadly bomb
attack in Bali.

Bahrul Hakim, Garuda's business director, said some 40 percent
of passengers from Australia, who had reserved flights, canceled
their trips after the incident, which took more than 180 lives,
including perhaps 100 Australians. Australia is Garuda's largest
market.

"We will closely monitor all developments. If it continues to
drop, we might consider cutting flights to affected international
destinations," Bahrul told reporters on Thursday after airline
industry seminar.

Many passengers from Japan and Europe -- which are Garuda's
second and third largest markets -- had also canceled their
flights, he said, but he did not provide details.

At present, around 60 to 70 percent of Garuda's international
flights fly directly to Denpasar.

Garuda has 15 flights directly to and from Denpasar to six
major cities in Australia and one flight to New Zealand. While to
Japan, Garuda flies 13 times a week to four major cities in the
country.

Following the Bali incident, Santoso Eddy Wibowo, air
transportation director at the Ministry of Transportation, said
international passengers would likely grow only five percent this
year, as against the initial target of 8.6 percent.

Last year, growth reached eight percent, despite terror fears
following Sept. 11.

According to Susanto, the number of international passengers
last year reached 4.5 million people. The National Statistics
Agency (BPS) recorded 2.8 million international passengers as of
July 2002.

Meanwhile, data from the Indonesian Cultural and Tourism Board
(ICTB) which was made available on Thursday, said international
arrivals in Bali averaged 4,650 per day in the period of between
Oct. 1 to Oct. 13. On Oct. 14, two days after the attack,
international arrivals reached 5,219, a figure which could be
attributed to people on official business as a result of the
blast such as police, doctors, journalists, etc. The number
dropped markedly to 2,833 the the following day.

On the Oct. 1-13 period, departures in Bali averaged 5,286.
But, the figure rose to 7,249 on Oct. 14 and 6,471 the following
day.

Most of the tourists who left on Oct. 14 and 15 were from
Australia, Japan, Taiwan and the United States, according to the
data.

Hotel occupancy rates in Bali, which were averaging some 70
percent before the attack, dropped immediately to 61.7 percent on
Oct. 14 and further declined to 55.81 percent on the following
day.

Deputy of ICTB for the Development of Tourism Resources and
Promotion Division Myra Gunawan told The Jakarta Post on Thursday
that his data seemed to indicate that the tragedy caused only a
slight decrease in tourist arrivals in Bali.

This indicated that Bali was still attractive enough despite
the incident.

Myra said many tourists who travel in groups arranged by
travel agencies had canceled their trips to Bali, but individual
tourists were still arriving.

Separately, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture
and Tourism Sapta Nirwandar said the shock caused by the attack
was likely to linger for months.

But, situations will gradually change, he said.

"I hope tourism in Bali will start recovering six months from
now," said Sapta.