Garuda launches NZ tour packages

Garuda launches NZ tour packages

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned air carrier Garuda Indonesia
launched new tour packages to New Zealand yesterday, the fifth
round of packages introduced since last year to increase the load
factor on its international routes.

The carrier last year launched four tour packages to Hong
Kong, Singapore, Perth (Australia) and Honolulu-Los Angeles (the
United States) to attract more passengers.

Garuda's general manager for Jakarta, Iwan H. Susilo, said
that the new packages, valid from April 1 to March 31, 1997, are
arranged in cooperation with Air New Zealand and the New Zealand
Tourism Board.

There are two packages to New Zealand, one for nine days the
other for five.

The nine-day tour includes a round-trip economy class air
ticket for the Jakarta-Auckland and Singapore-Jakarta or Jakarta-
Auckland and Denpasar-Jakarta trips, land transportation from
Auckland to Rotorua, an air ticket in New Zealand for Rotorua-
Queenstown-Christchurch-Auckland-Singapore or Rotorua-Queenstown-
Christchurch-Auckland-Denpasar. The five-day tour is a trip to
Auckland.

The tours include water and adventure sports as well as
accommodation at star-rated hotels, daily breakfast, souvenirs,
tour guides, travel insurance and an allowance of 10 kilograms of
extra baggage.

There are several prices, ranging from US$1,226 to $3,090 per
person, depending on the hotels and categories.

The tourism board's regional manager for Southeast Asia, Peter
Laurenson, said that a total of 1.4 million foreign tourists
visited New Zealand last year, 13,000 of whom were Indonesians.

Among Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia ranks fourth after
Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia in terms of Asian tourists
visiting New Zealand.

He said that the six major markets for New Zealand's tourist
industry last year were Australia, Europe, North Asia, the United
States/Canada, Japan and South Asia.

"Tourism is very important for New Zealand as a major foreign
exchange earner in addition to forestry and agriculture," he
said, adding that last year New Zealand received NZ$4 billion
($1.5 billion) in revenues from the tourist industry.

Laurenson said that the annual growth of tourist arrivals in
his country reached nearly 10 percent.

Iwan said that Garuda currently links Jakarta and Auckland via
Denpasar twice a week with DC-10 aircraft.

"Most of our market is grabbed by foreign airlines as many
Indonesians travel to New Zealand from Singapore and Australia,"
he said.

A manager of Air New Zealand in Jakarta, Robert Fullarton,
said that his company currently links Auckland and Denpasar twice
a week with Boeing B-767s. (icn)