The development of Kualanamu Airport strengthens the economy and tourism in North Sumatra

Posted On: December 14, 2021

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The development of Kualanamu International Airport by PT Angkasa Pura (AP) II in partnership with the GMR Airports Consortium with the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) program aims to grow the tourism sector and economy of the people of North Sumatra .

The reason for this is that the airport management cooperation will bring and increase considerable national and international air and passenger traffic.

“This will obviously have a direct impact on the growth of tourism and the economy of the people of North Sumatra,” said Dony Oskaria, President of PT Aviasi Wisata Indonesia (Aviata), in his statement in Jakarta on Tuesday.

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Aviata is a BUMN Holding for aviation and tourism, the PT Angkasa Pura I (Persero), PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero), PT Hotel Indonesia Natour (Persero), PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur Prambanan and Ratu Boko (Persero) as well as PT Sarinah . supervised (Persero).

“With the increase in passenger and air traffic, of course, the economic size will also increase, and then tourism will also increase so that Kualanamu Airport can finally become an international hub,” said Dony.

In addition, the Kualanamu Airport management collaboration with the BOT program has a 25-year collaboration value of Rs 56 trillion, with GMR Airports pledging to provide Rs 15 trillion in investment funding.

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This amount is considered very sufficient to make Kualanamu Airport even bigger and become an international hub. Through this collaboration, it will also provide benefits in the form of knowledge and expertise sharing in the management of world-class airports.

According to BPS data, the number of foreign tourists traveling to North Sumatra in 2019 was 258,822, while it only reached 44,285 at the time of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Please note that the GMR Airports Consortium, owned by the GMR Group from India and the Aéroports de Paris Group (ADP) from France, is an airport operator network that serves most of the world’s passengers.

“This will teach us how to better manage airports and expand our understanding of new sources of income outside of the traditional or standard airport income,” said Dony.

With a view to boosting the tourism sector in North Sumatra, Dony also wants to have a positive impact on Lake Toba, which is currently one of the priority goals for development.

According to BI records, North Sumatra’s economic growth in 2022 may match the national target in the range of 4.7-5.5 percent, while economic growth is forecast at 3.2-4.0 percent in 2021.

“As traffic increases, Kualanamu will become an international hub, and tourists will also increase. This will encourage accelerated growth of the tourism sector and North Sumatra’s economy in the future,” he said.