West Java International Airport (BIJB) Kertajati will be fully operational starting October 29 2023. In line with this policy, flights from Bandung's Husein Sastranegara Airport will also be moved to the airport in Majalengka Regency. The move to move commercial aircraft flights from Bandung to Majalengka was welcomed by the management of Pasar Baru Bandung. They hope that there will be an impact on tourist visits, especially foreign ones, once Kertajati Airport is fully operational. "The plan to reopen the Malaysia - Kertajati Airport flight route is good news for us. With this direct flight, we hope that the level of tourist visits to Pasar Baru Trade Center will increase again," said Pasar Baru Bandung Operations Director Irwin Tan, Wednesday (13/9 /2023).

Irwin said that Pasar Baru is not only a destination for local tourists to come to shop. For the past few years, foreign tourists, especially from Malaysia, have become the target market for this historic market.

"Pre-COVID-19 shopping tourism was mostly from Malaysia and Pasar Baru had the most textile sellers and this is the retail category for Malaysian tourists," he said.

Meanwhile, Marketing Director of Pasar Baru Untung BW revealed that the transfer of flights from Bandung to Majalengka made the distance that tourists had to travel when arriving even further.

"On the one hand, there is added value, moving to Kertajati with an international airport, on the other hand, there is also a lack of value because the city of Bandung itself does not have an airport, which in fact Pasar Baru is close, now it is quite far," said Untung.

Even so, Untung emphasized that Pasar Baru remains optimistic that the target of tourist visits from both local and foreign countries can be achieved, namely reaching 50 thousand people per day.

"We want to return Pasar Baru to the way it was before the pandemic, which was the target of reaching 50,000 people per day and constant every day. Now it's still 20,000 people per day," he said.

He also explained that Pasar Baru has a good history with foreign tourists. Apart from Malaysia, buyers also come from the Middle East, Thailand and Vietnam. They usually hunt for textile materials to resell in their country.

"Currently, the majority are still Malaysian, second place is the Middle East but there are still Bangkok, Vietnam and Japan. But Malaysia is the biggest because Muslim clothing and textiles are a priority," he concluded.