Mimi Hudoyo, Amsterdam (2010-06-08)

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines may increase frequencies between Amsterdam and Bali, encouraged by high load factors recorded since the thrice-weekly service, via Singapore, commenced late last year.

KLM CEO, Peter Hartman, said: “We did not realise and were surprised that there are many tourists, especially the Americans, (bound for the) Far East who love to board our aircraft in Singapore to go to Bali. This is a new market segment.”

The Indonesia Board of Statistics reported a growth of more than 66 per cent in arrivals from The Netherlands in the first three months this year.

The Indonesia Ministry of Culture and Tourism is targeting 200,000 Dutch arrivals this year. Its Visit Indonesia Tourism Office (VITO) in the country, Tourism Marketing Concepts (TMC), plans to entice repeat travellers by promoting new destinations such as Komodo and East Nusa Tenggara.

VITO Benelux senior manager Jaan Koehoorn said: “There are 1.6 million Dutch who have Indonesian ancestors. This is one market we are tapping. They will be interested to trace their roots. The other is repeat travellers. Our task is to introduce places in Indonesia they have never been to or heard of before.”