The Ministry of Tourism in Indonesia and the Jetstar Group today signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to deepen cooperation on tourism and promote growth in international tourism to Indonesia.

The MOU is part of a major new drive to support the Indonesian Government’s aspiration to attract 15 million international arrivals this year and 20 million arrivals in 2019. Witnessed by the Indonesian Minister of Tourism Mr. Arief Yahya, the MOU was signed by the Ministry’s Secretary Ukus Kuswara, CEO of Jetstar Airways (Australia & New Zealand), Mr Dean Salter and CEO of Jetstar Asia, Mr. Bara Pasupathi.

Mr. Arief Yahya said: “With up to 80 per cent of international tourists arriving into Indonesia by air, the role that airlines like the Jetstar Group plays will be critical in enabling the Indonesian Government achieve its 2017 and 2019’s tourism targets.”

The Indonesian Tourism Ministry added that they are looking to add 4 million seats in 2017 and an additional 10.5 million seats by 2019.

Australia, Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region have long been important source markets for Indonesia and the mutually-beneficial MOU will also encourage investment in local aviation, tourism infrastructure and boost employment opportunities.

The MOU will also see increased flight services to Indonesia’s main tourism destinations and joint marketing and promotional activities in Australia and Asia Pacific.

The MOU is an exciting development for the Jetstar Group as they will continue to offer low-fares in markets with a pent-up demand while growing the connections from Australia and Singapore and expanding their footprint into Indonesia.

As one of the largest international airline groups operating into Indonesia, Australian-based Jetstar Airways and Singapore-based Jetstar Asia carry 1.4 million passengers annually to and from six first- and second-tier cities in Indonesia. Operating more than 120 return flights a week to Indonesia, the Jetstar-branded airlines are independently recognised as the region’s safest low- cost carriers.

CEO of Jetstar Airways, Dean Salter, said this MOU signing will help Jetstar bring even more Australian tourists to Indonesia’s beautiful tourism destinations.

“Since we started flying to Indonesia, Jetstar Airways has become the largest carrier from Australia to Bali with around 60 return flights a week from eight Australian cities. Over the last 10 years, we have increased the number of Australian visitors to Bali by 55 times.”

Ministry of Tourism Indonesia and Jetstar Group sign MOU Mr. Salter added that the average spending of an Australian tourist in Bali is USD1,200 through expenditures on hotels, food and other purchases.

Singapore-based Jetstar Asia already operates more than 60 return flights a week from Singapore to six of the busiest metro cities in Indonesia – Denpasar, Jakarta, Medan-Kuanalamu, Surabaya, Pekanbaru and Palembang. The airline carries more than 665,000 visitors annually and the Singapore-Jakarta route continues to be one of the top LCC busiest routes in the world. The airline is also the only Singapore-based LCC to serve both Sumatra and Java.

CEO of Jetstar Asia, Bara Pasupathi said: “With Singapore and Indonesia as important tourism source markets in the region, the MOU will open up more opportunities to promote international tourists and business travel to popular Bali and other up-and-coming destinations in Indonesia via Singapore. With a stable of more than 25 codeshare and interline full-service carriers in place, our model of bringing tourists beyond Singapore will only serve to further enhance tourism to Indonesia.”