GEORGE TOWN, Aug 28 — Batik Air will launch direct flights between Batam and Penang from October 18, opening a new gateway for Penang to tap into the tourism market in Indonesia’s Riau Islands.

State Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said the route, the first scheduled direct air link between Batam and Penang, would operate three times a week.

“This route opens up opportunities for Penang to tap into new regional tourism markets in the Riau Islands and is an important step in expanding Indonesia as a source market while exploring new visitor segments with strong potential,” he said in a statement today.

He said Batam, located about 30 kilometres south of Singapore, was one of the key economic, industrial, commercial and tourism centres in the Riau Islands, with a strategic position in the regional connectivity between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Wong said Indonesia was already one of Penang’s key international tourism markets, with visitors from the country consistently ranking among the top international tourist arrivals to the state.

He said 201,657 Indonesian tourists entered Penang through Penang International Airport (PIA) from January to July this year, compared with 192,823 in the same period last year, an increase of 4.58 per cent.

Wong said the main Indonesian cities traditionally serving as key tourism markets for Penang included Medan, Jakarta, Surabaya and Banda Aceh, while the new route would extend the state’s reach to the Riau Islands.

He said the Batam-Penang route also had strong potential to support the state’s medical tourism sector, given Penang’s comprehensive medical facilities, professional healthcare services and well-established medical tourism ecosystem.

“With direct air connectivity between Batam and Penang, we have an opportunity to further tap into the medical tourism market in the Riau Islands and turn passenger flows into broader economic benefits and tourism spending,” he said.

Wong said the new route would also add an important component to Penang’s South-east Asian air network, particularly at a time when short-haul Asean markets were playing an important role in supporting the stability of the tourism industry.

Flight OD359 from Hang Nadim International Airport in Batam will depart at 11.30am local time and arrive at PIA at 1.55pm.

For the Penang-Batam sector, flight OD358 is scheduled to depart at 10.10am and arrive at Hang Nadim International Airport at 10.50am local time, with ticket bookings for the route now open via Batik Air’s official website. — Bernama