Visitors complaint over airport services

Luh De Suriyani, The Jakarta Post, Tuban | Mon, 01/05/2009 11:06 AM  

The island's sole international airport should improve its services as an increasing number of visitors have expressed disappointment over various inconveniences they experienced during their arrival at Ngurah Rai, a tourism association executive said Saturday. 

"Airport's services, or lack of them, will influence the overall image of Bali as perceived by tourists," said Al Purwa, the head of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA). 

The poor quality of the airport's service, Purwa disclosed, was once again brought up during his meeting late-December with representatives of major Japanese travel agents. 

"The meeting was attended by representatives of eight major players in the Japanese market. Their travel agents send 30 percent of the total Japanese tourists who visit Bali," he said. 

The representatives specifically mentioned the Ngurah Rai as an airport that failed to cater to the needs of elderly Japanese visitors. 

Purwa claimed the representatives had labeled Ngurah Rai airport as the world's worst airport for elderly visitors due to the chronic problem of long queues in front of the immigration counters and the lack of sufficient rest areas. 

New arrivals would have to stand in line, sometimes for hours, as the immigration officers process their application for Visa on Arrival (VoA). 

"Having to stand in line for considerable time after just getting off a long-haul flight is definitely not a comforting nor convenient experience for visitors," Purwa said. 

The problem related to the time-consuming VoA process, Purwa stressed, is one of the most common complaints voiced by foreign visitors about Ngurah Rai airport. 

"We have informed the relevant agencies about this problem. It has became a public knowledge, even Vice President Jusuf Kalla knows about this problem. However, a significant measure to mitigate the problem has yet to be launched," he said. 

He reminded that elderly Japanese visitors would play a significant role in softening the adverse impact of the ongoing global economic crisis to the island's tourism. 

"These elderly visitors are mostly rich retirees, whose assets have not been significantly affected by the crisis," he said. 

Purwa also asked the airport authority to improve the services of its porters. 

"Several porters still demand a payment way beyond the accepted standard, which is Rp 2,500 per luggage. We have reports that some porters asked for Rp 100,000 to transport one luggage," he said. 

Assistant to the spokesperson of PT Angkasa Pura, the company that runs the airport, M Dimyati cited the fact that the airport had operated beyond its capacity as the reason behind the inconveniences suffered by the passengers. 

"The domestic terminal has a maximum capacity of dealing with 1.5 million passengers per year, but currently has to cope with 3.6 million passengers," he said. 

Dimyati promised to add more VoA counters to deal with the surge of visitors. 

He was quite optimistic that all those inconveniences would disappear once the airport's expansion project completed. In April 2009, the airport authority would commence the expansion project that would cost around Rp 2.1 trillion.