Jakarta (VNA)🦩 – The Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair Phase II 2016 (GATF II) opened in Jakarta on October 7, expected to see a sale of 386 billion rupiah (roughly 30 million USD) during three days of operation.

Opening the event, which aims to boost local tourism development, Indonesian Minister of Tourism Arief Yahya said that the Indonesian Government has passed programmes and strategies for the long-term development of the tourism sector. As many as 80 Bali-like tourist sites will be developed until 2025 to attract domestic and foreign holidaymakers, he said, adding that for a short-term plan, the country will focus on promoting 10 other destinations, including Borobudur Temple and Toba Lake . Such events like the GATF aim to encourage people to travel, thus boosting tourism growth, he added. Along with Jakarta, the GATF II is also underway in 17 different cities, including Bandung, Medan, Lmpung, Palembang, Semarang and Solo. At the event, the national carrier Garuda runs attractive promotion programmes for customers. Meanwhile, Imam T.Saptono, Director of the Bank Negara Indonesia, said that the bank is cooperating with Garuda to provide convenient payment methods for customers. The bank targets 225 billion rupiah (over 17.3 million USD) from 80,000 tourists during the event, he added.-VNA