Non-stop Jakarta/Perth flights starting July welcomed

Tourism Minister Pam Beggs said today that non-stop flights from Jakarta to Perth starting in July heralded the beginning of a new tourism relationship with Indonesia.

"The announcement by Garuda Indonesia is even more significant as it comes at a time when Prime Minister Paul Keating is forging new ties between Australia and Indonesia," Mrs Beggs said.

"The new air link will give us the opportunity to speed the development of close two-way tourism between Indonesia and Western Australia.

"Our State capital and the national capital of our nearest international neighbour have not been directly linked since the early 1970s when Cathay Pacific flew to Hong Kong via Jakarta.

"Since November 1976, we have had Perth-Denpasar flights which have mainly serviced the Perth market for Bali holidays but there has not been the capacity to service outbound tourism from Indonesia.

"The potential market of 10 million travelling Indonesians in Java has largely been ignored. Now the State has the opportunity to tap this market," the Minister said.

The new Garuda flights, which would fly from Jakarta to Perth on Thursdays and return on Tuesdays, would allow for tour wholesalers in Indonesia to package four or five-day Perth holidays.

"With the opening of a Western Australian Tourism Commission office in Jakarta in 1990, we are now well placed to develop the Indonesian market," Mrs Beggs said.

The Minister said that the Government would like to see direct links between Broome and Jakarta or Surabaya as a logical development of the State's relationship with Indonesia in the medium term.