GUANGZHOU. National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will introduce direct flights between Guangzhou, China, and Denpasar, to meet the increasing demand by Chinese tourists to visit Indonesia.

Garuda’s general manager in Guangzhou, Dharmawan J Hendrata, said on Friday that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) had approved the plan.

"The license was issued on Thursday and will be processed further by the Indonesian Transportation Ministry," Dharmawan said in Guangzhou as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said Garuda would start serving the new route on July 8 to coincide with the summer holidays.

He said the new route was being opened to meet the growing demand for direct flights from Guangzhou to the resort island of Bali.

Garuda recorded a high load factor of 82 percent in flights between Guanzhou and Jakarta in the first quarter of 2015, up from 70 percent in the same period last year.

Garuda introduced direct flights between Beijing and Denpasar on Jan. 13.

Currently, Garuda has four regular routes between the two countries, namely Beijing-Jakarta, Shanghai-Jakarta, Guanzghou-Jakarta and Beijing-Denpasar.

Tourism Ministry data shows that 9.4 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia in 2014. The number is expected to rise to 12 million in 2015.

Chinese visitors accounted the fourth highest in number, totaling 1 million in 2014.

Editor: Yudho Winarto