MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. The demand for flights and booking of hotels in Bali surged three-fold after news about the launch of direct flights to the island by Aeroflot appeared, a source in the press service of Yandex Travel service told TASS.

"The demand for flights and booking of hotels in Bali climbed three-fold. A sharp rise in demand is related to the start of sales of direct flights to the Indonesian island by Aeroflot company," the service said.

The Russian air carrier said earlier that it would start performing direct flights from Moscow to Denpasar (the island of Bali, Indonesia) on September 17.

According to Yandex Travel, Russians have inquired about visiting Indonesia during the summer period one and a half times more often this year than in 2023.

The launch of direct flights to Bali may increase the tourist flow to Indonesia multi-fold, communications director of MTS Travel service Sergey Stanovkin told TASS.

"It is expected that the opening of direct flights to Bali will boost the share of Indonesia in the structure of trips to Southeastern Asia and enable it to get back the second spot in the rating of popular countries. After all, even on connecting flights the tourist flow to Indonesia is on the rise as it grew 2.5-fold in 2023 compared with 2022, whereas in seven months of 2024 the dynamics gained 40% in annual terms," the expert said.