INDONESIAN Consulate General in Davao City expects an increase of Mindanawon participants for the upcoming Indonesian Trade Expo in Jakarta, Indonesia on October this year.
Following the target revival of Davao-Manado air connectivity on September to be served by Garuda Indonesia, the flag carrier of Indonesia, Indonesian Consul-General Dicky Fabrian believed this would further boost interest of businessmen to participate in the trade expo.
The airline will initially operate the route once a week with a 70-seater ATR 72-600.
“This could be a triggering factor for more people from Davao and Mindanao to come to Indonesia [to participate in our event] through this route,” Fabrian said.
He said that in their earlier pronouncement of the event, there were already 70 businesspeople from Mindanao who already confirmed participation and more are showing interest.
Fabrian is optimistic that more will confirm with “the good news” about the Davao-Manado route.
The event which was pegged as Indonesia’s largest Business to Business trade show for Non-Oil and Gas Industry will be on October 16-20, 2019 at the Indonesian Convention Exhibition (ICE) in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Fabrian said there is a need to sustain the Davao-Manado route.
“We already have the experience before because we have at least two airlines serving this route. So far, they failed to benefit from it, probably because the intention of people from Manado to go to Davao is less and vice versa,” he said.
“But now I am convinced that more people are interested to go to Manado according to people and other dignitaries I met. Some poeple in Indonesia even expressed to have their children study in Mindanao and it make us quite certain that this route will be very popular because of what I observed from Dabawenyos and Indonesians,” he added.