Transport in Indonesia
Air transport in Indonesia serves as a critical means of connecting the thousands of islands throughout the archipelago. Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, extending from east to west and from north to south, comprising 13,466 islands, with 922 of those permanently inhabited. With an estimated population of over 255 million people — making it the world's fourth-most-populous country — and also due to the growth of the middle-class, the boom of low-cost carriers in the recent decade, and overall economic growth, many domestic travellers shifted from land and sea transport to faster and more comfortable air travel. Indonesia is widely regarded as an emerging market for air travel in the region. Between 2009 and 2014, the number of Indonesian air passengers increased from 27,421,235 to 94,504,086, an increase of over threefold.
List of beaches in Indonesia
Indonesia is located in a region of abundant coral reefs known as the Coral Triangle as well as being the country with the most volcanoes in the world. Some beaches are derived from fluvial sands and gravels, others from cliff erosion. Coral reefs form white or yellow sanded beaches, while beach sediments derived from volcanic rocks are typically black or grey, such as those of northern Bali and southern Java. In the granitic zone of the Riau, Bangka and Belitung Islands, white quartz sands as well as granite boulders dominate. Sandy backshores are colonized by coastal vegetation, notably "Ipomoea pes-caprae" and "Spinifex littoreus", then coconut and casuarina trees. Coastal dunes are poorly developed in the humid tropics, but on the southern shores of Java and Sumatra, prograded beaches are backed by dunes, some of which carry woodland vegetation. Large deposits of lava and ash from volcanic eruptions may transport large quantities of pyroclastic sediment down to the coast, such as at Mount Merapi in southern Java and Mount Agung in Bali. The area within the Coral Triangle is associated with rich marine biodiversity. Beaches in the area, such as those that are important turtle nesting beaches, are protected by the government.