Mayor spruiks tourism vision
17 Sep 2012 - NT News- By CONOR BYRNE
DARWIN’S Lord Mayor has called for direct flights to a small Indonesian island which she described as the ‘‘Bali of old’’.
But Darwin airport said a profitable route could be difficult.
Ms Fong Lim returned from a week-long sister city celebration for the 437th anniversary of Ambon, 1000km north-northwest of Darwin, last week.
She said the island could become a tourism hot spot for Top Enders.
‘‘It really is an amazing place,’’ she said.
‘‘The best way to describe it is like Bali of old. If you’re a diver or snorkeler, the Banda Sea is just amazing.’’
Ms Fong Lim had to travel via Singapore to reach the island.
She said Ambonese officials had been in discussions to establish a direct route to Darwin and she would approach the NT Government and Darwin airport to take the matter further.
Tourism Minister Matt Conlon failed to respond to theNTNews.
Darwin Airport spokeswoman Emma Andrews said she was unaware of discussions with Ambon.
She said the airport had no plans to propose the route but private chartering was an option.
‘‘Currently, there is not a high demand between Darwin and Ambon (or Australia to Ambon) that can be demonstrated statistically,’’ she said. ‘‘It would be difficult to build a business case which showed yearround operations.’’
Ms Fong Lim said a military history route between Darwin, Ambon, Kokoda, and Cairns could be promoted. ‘‘That’s a vision if we could get the direct flights,’’ she said.
Last week’s visit cost ratepayers more than $4000 for Ms Fong Lim and a council staffer.