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KUCHING, Aug 30: The main economic goals of having more airlines flying between Kuching and other Indonesian destinations such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali, and Medan are to provide healthy competition and reduce flight ceiling pricing, said Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts (MTCP) Sarawak Deputy Minister Datuk Snowdan Lawan.
Snowdan was asked to provide his comments on the Sarawak government welcoming airlines to open routes from Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali, and Medan direct to the State.
“In economic terms, having substitutes (for example, tea for coffee) or alternative routes (shorter direct routes) will gradually diminish the might and monopoly of ‘excess demand over supply’ to the point where cost will contract.
“Before anyone else does, we now have the opportunity to tap into this big tourism potential market from our immediate neighbour in view of the large population and the ongoing relocation of Indonesia’s new capital to Nusantara, Kalimantan.
“This lets us capitalise on the existing cordial bilateral relationship that we have to further enhance intra-country cooperation,” he said.
He went on to say that the direct impact will be that it will boost the tourism industry, whether leisure, official, or sport tourism, and medical tourism could see a surge inflow given the institutional medical facilities in Sarawak.
“With more flights coming into Sarawak, it means increased connectivity and access activities.
“This entails more landing rights and ground works especially in airports and immigration.
“Entry of new airlines also creates job opportunities such as management, flying crews, ground handling staff handling luggage, and many others,” he added.
Snowdan, who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Youth chief, noted that the cargo, transportation, and hotel accommodation businesses will receive immediate impact.
“Large volume cargo facilities will accelerate our import and export businesses where goods are delivered in shorter material time.
“Immigration will be kept busy at counters. Controls will be tightened and this is a better way to avoid illegal routes in border crossings.
“The necessary levy and airport charges, fees, and consumption at airports are collected upfront, and helps solve uncollected revenue and leakages.” — DayakDaily
