JAKARTA, 25 May 2020: Angkasa Pura Airports that manages Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport is opening the process to select business partners “to welcome the rise of the tourism industry in 2021.”
At present, the airport remains open, but it restricted just a few domestic flights from Jakarta. A notice on Garuda Indonesia’s website said the airline had scheduled limited international flights to China from Bali to resume in June.
But in a recent update Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo projected that the Covid-19 pandemic would continue until the end of this year and the travel industry should prepare for an explosion in the tourism 2021.
Quoting the President’s optimism, the airport operator announced the bidding process to select commercial enterprises to operate retail outlets at the airport last Friday.
Phase one of the selection process involves 10 food and beverage outlets, and 11 retail shops with applications closing on 12 June. In the second phase of the selection process open from 15 October to 6 November, the applications are open for two food and beverage outlets, four retail shops, four services providers and a duty-free outlet.
“Angkasa Pura Airports invites international and local brand owners to take this golden opportunity by participating in the selection process of business partners to do business at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport where Bali is known as one of the world’s favourite tourism destinations,” the airport company’s statement explained.
“The airport’s business conditions will begin to rise in early 2021, ” according to the corporation’s director of marketing and services airports, Devy Suradji.
In 2019, Bali won the title as the number 1 tourism destination in Asia at the 2019 Travelers Choice Awards held by TripAdvisor. In 2018, Bali ranked 19th on the 2018 Global Destination Cities Index released by Mastercard with 8.3 million foreign tourists.
In 2019, aircraft passenger traffic (domestic and international) at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport reached 24,168,133 passengers, up 1.66% compared to 2018 with 23,773,714 passengers.
