Jakarta. Airline companies expect to rake in billions of rupiah from travel fairs all over Indonesia this year, where they will team up with banks to lure Indonesians with a myriad of cheap deals. Indonesians like to go to travel fairs, where the queues are long and often cause traffic jams near exhibition centers or malls where they are usually held.

Most people go to travel fairs to get heavily discounted fares — which they often have to book far in advance — and special deals on guided tour packages, which usually include hotel bookings, making travel with a large family easier.

Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will hold the first batch of its annual Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair (GATF) simultaneously in 23 cities across Indonesia on March 10-12. The Jakarta event will be held at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC).

"We want to boost tourism in Indonesia by promoting the government's top 10 destinations beyond Bali," Garuda Indonesia commercial director A. Toni Soetirto said in a statement on Wednesday (01/03).

The airline expects to attract 77,000 visitors to the March travel fairs and reap a total Rp 207 billion in advance bookings. Last year during the same month Garuda raked in Rp 179 billion and attracted more than 69,000 visitors.

Garuda joins hands with state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) for the travel fairs, offering BNI debit and credit cardholders deeper discounts on fares and travel tour packages. BNI cardholders can also use a free app to get updates on upcoming travel deals.

Rival Singapore Airlines meanwhile had just wrapped up its travel fair on Feb. 24-26 at the Gandaria City shopping mall in South Jakarta. The airline, known as SQ, teamed up with Indonesia's Bank Central Asia (BCA) to offer cashbacks for the first 350 visitors to the fair.

At least seven travel companies also took part in the SQ travel fair: Avia Tour, Bayu Buana, Dwidaya Tour, Golden Rama Tours and Travel, Smailing Tours, Wita Tour and Panorama Tour.

The government has indicated it wants to stimulate growth in domestic tourism by sending more local tourists to destinations other than Bali.

Data from the Transportation Ministry show there were 89 million domestic air passengers last year, and 23 million international passengers. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) were slightly different, showing 80 million domestic air passengers last year and at least 14.9 million international passengers. Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said the figures are still quite low, indicating that Indonesia is still not a top destination for international tourists.

"We want to attract more overseas tourists this year. They should make up at lease 30 percent of all air passengers by 2019," Budi said.