Lake Toba
GARUDA Indonesia has launched the Jakarta-Silangit route via Pinangsori as part of ongoing route expansion plans and in support of Indonesia’s efforts to develop tourism to Lake Toba.
Arif Wibowo, president and CEO of Garuda, said: “The new route is part of the company’s continuous route expansion and a commitment to support the government’s programmes (to improve) connectivity between islands and cities to develop tourism as well as the national economy.”
The thrice-weekly service will be operated on the CRJ-1000 aircraft with 96 all-economy seats.
I Gde Pitana, deputy minister of international marketing development at the Ministry of Tourism, said: “One of the issues in developing Lake Toba is the fact that it is only accessible by road from Medan (and the route takes between five and seven hours). We expect that the new service will entice more travellers to go there.”
Garuda also has plans to connect Silangit with other cities in Sumatra like Medan, Sibolga, Gunung Sitoli, Dumai and Pekanbaru.
Meanwhile, the government is setting up the Lake Toba Tourism Authority with the aim of better coordinating development and management efforts.
Arief Yahya, Minister of Tourism said: “The tourism authority will be tasked with developing infrastructure such as road and airport on Lake Toba area. Such development has been very slow because of the overlapping authorities among seven government agencies in the area,” he explained.
