Garuda Indonesia Provides 170,845 Free Domestic Flight Seats for Foreign Tourists.

Garuda Indonesia is opening an opportunity for international tourists to explore Indonesia without incurring additional costs for domestic flights. Through the Free Domestic Flight program, the national airline is providing a total of 170,845 free domestic flight seats for foreign visitors holding Garuda Indonesia round-trip international flight tickets.

This program applies for flight periods between 1 August and 30 November 2026. The total of 170,845 seats was selected to align with the numerical date of Indonesia's Independence Day anniversary.

The Free Domestic Flight program is part of a joint initiative by PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk and PT Aviasi Pariwisata Indonesia (Persero) / InJourney, created to attract more foreign tourists while encouraging visitors to travel beyond Jakarta and Bali as their only destinations in the country.

Garuda Indonesia Group Chief Marketing Officer Prina Eka Putri stated that the free domestic flight service was designed to give international tourists the opportunity to extend their travels to various other destinations across Indonesia.

"The goal is that they do not only stop at one single location in Indonesia, but also venture out to all other domestic destinations across the archipelago," she stated during a press conference held in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Encouraging Foreign Tourists To Explore More Indonesian Destinations

Until now, Jakarta and Bali remain the primary entry points for the vast majority of international visitors arriving in Indonesia. Through the Free Domestic Flight program, Garuda Indonesia aims to open wider access so that tourist journeys can continue onwards to other regions across the country.

Foreign tourists can claim this free domestic flight benefit by booking their international travel itinerary with Garuda Indonesia.

Bookings may be completed via the official Garuda Indonesia website or mobile application, Garuda Indonesia's official WhatsApp service, or through authorised travel agents.

Notably, tourists who only learn about this program after they have already begun their trip to Indonesia are still eligible to use the benefit, as long as their domestic flights are scheduled within the program's valid operating period.

"We will arrange for them to receive their free domestic flight allocation, provided that the flight is operated while this program is active," she explained.

Dedi Ahmad Kurnia, Assistant Deputy for International Tourism Marketing I at the Ministry of Tourism, assessed that this program carries high strategic value for Indonesia's tourism sector.

Around 70 percent of all international tourists arrive in Indonesia via air travel. With simplified domestic flight access, the government hopes tourist movement will no longer be concentrated solely in Jakarta or Bali.

"This is not just about people coming to Jakarta or Bali. This initiative will help visitors discover more of Indonesia, and travel to lesser-known destinations across the country," Dedi stated.

Free Flights Intended To Extend Foreign Tourist Length Of Stay

This program is not only targeted at increasing total international tourist arrival numbers. The government and tourism industry stakeholders also expect that with complimentary domestic flights, foreign visitors will travel to more locations and extend their total stay in Indonesia.

InJourney Vice President Corporate Secretary Yudhistira Setiawan stated that improved domestic flight access has the potential to directly impact the number of destinations visited, length of stay, and even total tourist expenditure in the regions they travel to.

According to InJourney data, the average expenditure for international tourists in the second quarter of 2026 reached approximately 1,285 US Dollars, with an average length of stay of 10 nights.

Rollout of the Free Domestic Flight program is expected to boost these figures by encouraging tourists to add additional travel stops during their time in Indonesia.

"What we aim to extend is not just their travel route. We are working to increase their length of stay, on-ground tourism activities, and their spending at each destination they visit," he explained.

As more destinations receive tourist visitors, the economic benefits generated by the tourism sector are expected to be distributed far more evenly across the country.

Local business operators, MSMEs, accommodation providers, food and beverage services, and all other regional tourism service sectors stand to gain from the increased cross-region movement of tourists.

The Free Domestic Flight program forms part of the official strategy to reshape international tourist travel patterns in Indonesia: arrive through the main gateway cities, then continue their adventures to explore far more destinations across the archipelago.