Since the beginning of 2022, government policy has eased restrictions on domestic and international travel, resulting in a positive trend in tourism. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded a significant increase in passengers compared with last year.
The BPS published data on Batam Transportation Development in which domestic air passengers reached 357,801 in May 2022, showing a 37.98 percent increase since April. Meanwhile, international travelers grew 187.85 percent since April 2022 with 139 passengers in the same period.
From January to May, the total number of domestic passengers arriving in and departing from the Hang Nadim International Airport was 1.35 million people, 50.7 percent greater than the same period the previous year. The number of international passengers grew 306.33 percent with a total of 321 people flying.
Batam’s sea ports also saw an increase in the number of passengers compared with April 2022. There were 361,455 domestic travelers (54.71 percent) while there was a 27.87 percent decrease in passengers.
In May 2022, as many as 189,626 domestic travelers arrived in Batam, which showed an increase of 62.92 percent compared with April. From January-May, the cumulative number of domestic passengers was 666,323, a 49.97 percent increase from the 222,015 travelers during the same period in 2021. In May 2022, there were 168,175 domestic air passengers departing from the Hang Nadim International Airport, Batam. Compared with April 2022, departing passengers increased 17.66 percent while cumulative departures from January-May recorded 679,254 domestic passengers, a 51.42 percent increase from 230,679 during the same period last year.
A total of 106 International passengers arrived at Hang Nadim International Airport while 107 passengers departed from Batam. The cumulative number of international travelers arriving through the airport in the January-May increased by 314.29 percent while the cumulative amount of passengers departing from Hang Nadim in January-May 2022 increased 300 percent compared with the same period in 2021.
Overall, the increase of international traffic through the airport was 187.84 percent. From January-May 2022, the cumulative number of passengers experienced 50.72 percent growth from 892,962 people in January-May 2021 to 1.35 million passengers in January-May 2022. Chairman of BP Batam, Muhammad Rudi, hoped that the Batam economy would recover with passenger mobilization returning to normal, especially for Batam’s small and medium enterprises.
