Padang-Kuala Lumpur Flights to Reopen

TheIndonesia.co - The West Sumatra Provincial Government plans to reopen Padang-Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) flights after previously being stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both parties see the same need to open direct flights between two cities.

"I have met with representatives of the airline AirAsia in Jakarta and shortly it will be realized," said Deputy Governor of West Sumatra Audy Joinaldy in Padang, Tuesday, March 29, 2022.

He conveyed this at the Dissemination of the Economic Report of the Province of West Sumatra for the February 2022 period with the theme Synergy, Collaboration, and Innovation Towards the Year of West Sumatra Tourism Visit.

Audy admitted that he had discussed preparations with relevant stakeholders from airport authorities, immigration, quarantine to the Health Service. He explained that there are seven entry points for foreign tourists to enter Indonesia, namely Jakarta, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, Manado, Surabaya, Batam, and Tanjung Pinang.

"Padang wants to be the eighth entry point and I have also coordinated with the Ministry of Transportation to ask for directions," he said. He hopes that with the reopening of flights, tourists from Malaysia will return to visit Indonesia.

Previously, the Director of Tourism Malaysia in Medan Hishamuddin Mustafa hoped that the tourism sector would soon rise so that tourist visits between Indonesia and Malaysia could be busy again. "After nearly two years of tourism plummeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we hope that by the end of this year we can recover so that tourist visits between the two countries are busy again," he said.

He conveyed that in principle airlines in Malaysia are ready to re-open flights between countries. "However, we are still waiting for flights to open in Indonesia, once they are opened, of course by implementing strict health protocols," he said.

He sees tourists exchanges between Malaysia and Padang are quite high because the two regions have a strong emotional connection. "Many West Sumatrans travel to Malaysia, ranging from vacations, health treatment, to study, on the other hand, many Malaysians also visit Bukittinggi (for vacation)," he said.

Based on data compiled by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of West Sumatra, 61,131 foreign tourists were visiting West Sumatra in 2019, an increase of 3.33 percent compared to 2018 which was only 54,383 people.

"Of the 61,131 foreign tourists who visited West Sumatra, mostly came from Malaysia, reaching 46,730 people. After Malaysia, the highest number of foreign tourist visits came from Australia as many as 3,069 people, the United States with 707 people, France with 670 people, and Singapore with 598 people.