The low cost carrier Air Asia Indonesia and the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) have signed an agreement to provide promotional rates for flights and hotels, in an order to boost the demand for travel amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Through this cooperation, customers can book Air Asia flights and hotels owned by PHRI members as part of a bundling program through the airline’s official website. But customers can still book the two services without bundling.

Hariyadi Sukamdani, chairman of PHRI, said in a virtual press conference on late Wednesday (Dec 16) that its members would offer their best possible rates and Air Asia promised to do so as well. This is an attempt to generate a new demand. The association hopes that through this joint plan, the people who are hesitant to travel will have more confidence in the implemented safety and health protocols, and provide them with an affordable cost.

The cooperation takes place at a time when the association is trying to attract domestic tourists during holidays at the end of the year to revive the accommodation industry, which is ranked second among the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus  pandemic.

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According to data from Statistics Indonesia, the accommodation and food service sector fell by a staggering 22.02% year on year between July and September due to to the pandemic restricting mobility. BPS data shows that in spite of an upward trend since May, the average hotel occupancy rate continued to fall from 19.3% point year-on-year to 37.48% in October.

The agreement with Air Asia is required to facilitate cooperation among tourism stakeholders to overcome the challenges came with the pandemic. It is expected that more than 5,000 PHRI hotel members, who have participated in similar cooperation with online travel agents, will join the program with Air Asia. Hotels will be able to define their own prices and inventories for special offers within the packages.

Mr. Veranita Yosephine Sinaga, president director of Air Asia Indonesia, has informed that Air Asia and PHRI will continue to double their cooperation by cooperating with more and more hotels in the airline’s destinations.

“From the sales target side, we are optimistic and clearly hoping this program can help us raise sales of flight tickets,” he added.