Travelers heading to Indonesia's archipelago can rejoice with the global hospitality marketplace, Airbnb, which is looking to expand its reach to the nation.
Earmarking Indonesia as an important market in the Asia-Pacific, Airbnb's country manager for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Robin Kwok, was quoted by The Jakarta Post saying it was one of the fastest growing nation in the inbound travel segment.
Currently, nearly 38,000 local homes are listed for rental on its online marketplace.
Kwok said Indonesia was an important country not only in the Southeast Asia region but also for the entire Asia Pacific region.
She added that the company has made efforts to educate local hosts how to operate the application, developing teams to fulfill the mission. "We want to drive more people to Indonesia and we also do a lot of marketing," Kwok said.
She said the company has launched discussions with government officials as to how the company could give the government a better understanding of the services required by travelers to Indonesia.
At the same time, Kwon said Airbnb was looking forward to collaborating with local partners, adding that high expectations of partners boosting the brand's awareness were set on high priority.
Founded nine years ago, Airbnb has a presence in 65,000 cities and in 191 countries worldwide.
Meanwhile, Antara News reported South Korean's airline carrier, Korean Air, was ready to fly to Indonesia's Lombok Island in July and August this year.
Quoting Lombok International Airports General Manager 2, Gusti Ngurah Ardita, he said Korean Air will open a charter flight seven times.
The statement came following a meeting with Korean Air's Network sales general manager and Indonesia's regional manager Bae Sang Wook in Mataram, Lombok yesterday.
The Seoul-based airline company will fly into Lombok International Airport starting 29 July until the end of August this year.
Gusti said they are expected to open a fixed-route between Korea and Lombok following the charter flight exercise.
The Indonesian government has set a target of luring 20 million foreign tourists annually until 2019, in line with its goal to make the archipelago a world-class tourism destination. Lombok island is one of the sought after tourist destination for holiday-goers.
