Flight Increases, Tourism Minister Wants Banyuwangi Boost Tourist Visits

By : Hariyanto And Aldi Firhand. A | Friday, February 16 2018 - 22:30 IWST

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya (Hariyanto / INDUSTRY.co.id)

INDUSTRY.co.id - Banyuwangi - Citilink officially opened the Jakarta-Banyuwangi flight route. Director of Citilink Juliandra Nurtjahjo said, the initial stage, Jakarta-Banyuwangi route worked once a day. He is optimistic, the frequency can increase as the more advanced Banyuwangi.

He mentioned, a number of potential Banyuwangi destinations to increase tourist arrivals, such as Ijen Crater, Plengkung Beach, savanna in Alas Purwo National Park, and a row of other natural destinations.

"The power of marketing with various tourist attractions in Banyuwangi Festival such as Gandrung Sewu Festival, Banyuwangi Ethno Carnival, and Tour de Ijen also make Banyuwangi much in demand," he said in Banyuwangi, Thursday (15/2/2018).

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya congratulates Banyuwangi for continuing its tourism development and encouraging all elements in Banyuwangi to realize the international airport by the end of 2019.

"This year's momentum must be utilized, in October 2018 there is the annual meeting of IMF and World Bank in Bali. Buffet of delegations arrived, Banyuwangi has been designated as a supporting airport, meaning that some of the delegates landed in Banyuwangi.Be use it, show the strength and uniqueness of Banyuwangi tourism," said Minister Arief.

Arief also motivates Banyuwangi to continue menggeber number of tourist visits. For domestic tourists to Banyuwangi, 497,000 tourists in 2010 jumped to 4.01 million people. Foreign tourists rose from the range of 5,205 (2010) to 91,000 foreign tourists (2017) with foreign exchange earnings of Rp 546 billion.

"It is very okay, for the new areas of tourism, there is no such thing in Sumatra, except Riau," said Arief.

With the addition of Citilink, in a day means there are four frequency of Jakarta-Banyuwangi route where three previous frequencies are worked on NAM Air and Garuda Indonesia. In addition, there is a Surabaya-Jakarta route three times a day that worked on Garuda and Wings Air.