Online Travel Agencies Such As Tiket.com Welcome Government Regulations Considered As Bright Spots For The Tourism Industry

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The online travel agency welcomes the bright spot in the tourism industry as COVID-19 cases decline and new regulations that make it easier for people to travel, such as the mandatory antigen test as a substitute for the more expensive PCR test.

"It really helps (increase tourism) because the price is different and there are more antigen tests," said Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, tiket.com Gaery Undarsa in an online press conference, quoted from Antara, Thursday, November 4.

Now flights from or to airports on the islands of Java and Bali as well as between airports within the islands of Java and Bali can be done with an Antigen Rapid Test at least 1x24 hours and must show a vaccine card before departure. Meanwhile, travelers who still get one vaccine must show a certificate of negative RT-PCR results for a maximum of 3x24 hours and a vaccine card, before departure.

As for flights between airports outside the Java and Bali islands, it is mandatory to show a certificate of negative Rapid Test Antigen results for a maximum of 1x24 hours, or a certificate of negative RT-PCR results for a maximum of 3x24 hours, and a vaccine card (at least the first dose of vaccination), before departure.

Exceptions for showing a vaccine card apply to travelers under the age of 12 who must be accompanied by their parents or family, as evidenced by showing a family card (KK), as well as meeting the COVID-19 test requirements as stipulated by the region.

The quarantine period for travelers from abroad has also been changed to three days, initially five days, specifically for people who have received a complete dose of COVID-19 vaccination.

Gaery said, Indonesian tourism began to stretch towards the end of 2021, as seen from the significant performance growth in all product lines of the online travel agency in the third quarter of 2021, namely July-September.

He argues that community optimism and adaptation in carrying out daily health protocols are one of the factors that boost performance growth. Likewise, the COVID-19 vaccination, which is increasingly accessible to more people and creates a sense of security, as well as the use of PeduliLindung for tracing and screening functions when entering a place, such as a shopping center.

"There is also an element of travel revenge, those who have not traveled for the last 1.5 years must feel bored," he said.

Although Indonesia was hit by a second wave in the period from June to August, based on Q3 2021 data, overall, tiket.com transactions rose 52 percent this year compared to last year. This achievement is the contribution of all product lines. The best performance contributions came from Entertainment (+662 percent year-on-year) and Hotels (+68 percent year-on-year).

From January to September 2021, the top-performing accommodation recorded a 10 percent growth in transaction volume, while To Do tickets led the way at 54 percent. He explained that this shows that the Work From Hotel and staycation campaigns near homes are quite successful.

Tiket.com users

From the user side, Gaery noted that there were 21 million tiket.com users as of October 2021.

"This shows that the growth potential of tiket.com users is still high," he said.

He emphasized that the revival of national tourism can only be realized when vaccination rates increase and the spread of COVID-19 decreases. The focus of online travel bureaus at the end of this year in addition to presenting promotions for travel, is also a window for the latest information on regulations in various destinations or destinations for Indonesian people, both at home and abroad.

"Learning from last year's experience, one of the causes of the emergence of a new wave of COVID-19 is the increase in community mobility without heeding health protocols," he said.

He invites people who want to visit public areas to comply with health protocols and choose tourist attractions that have used PeduliLindung for access screening.

"Let's keep it together so that the achievements of the Indonesian people in reducing the number of cases in the last few months do not disappear because of negligence," said Gaery.

He was happy because this bright spot in the tourism industry coincided with the OTW (Online Tiket Week) campaign that offered discounts on hotels to planes.

The campaign, which took place on November 4-12, was attended by more than 9,000 transportation partners such as planes, trains to car rentals, accommodations such as hotels to tourist parks and other attractions. The campaign which coincided with the opening of international border access in a number of countries for Indonesian tourists also presented discounted flights to a number of other countries such as Turkey, the Netherlands, the UK, Dubai, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and other European countries.

Discounts are offered up to 50 percent plus 35 percent for all product lines at the online travel agency, especially during certain hours.

Promotions for international flights include discounts of up to 20 percent plus IDR 1.5 million, domestic flight promotions offering discounts of up to 25 percent + 35 percent, international accommodation promotions offering discounts of up to 80 percent plus IDR 350,000, domestic accommodation promotions offering discounts of up to 50 percent + 15 percent, the To Do Ticket promotion offers discounts of up to 60 percent + 15 percent, train ticket promotions with discounts of up to Rp. 110,000, car rental promotions with discounts of up to 50 percent + 17 percent and promotion of the price of "car transfer" facilities with discounts of up to Rp. 80. 000 and event ticket promotions up to 25 percent.