Tickets For Riau Islands-Singapore Melonjak Shipping, DPRD Asks Regional Government And Ferry Ship Operators To Seat Together

Feri Baruna rests at Sri Bintan Pura Port, Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands. (Between-Nikolas P)

KEPRI - Indonesia and Singapore opened access in and out of tourists in mid-2022. The policy resulted in an increase in ticket rates for international ferries, such as routes from the Riau Islands (Kepri) to Singapore to Rp800-Rp900 thousand.

Member of Commission II of the Riau Islands DPRD, Rudy Chua, assessed that the increase in ticket prices from only Rp. 400 thousand before the pandemic could hinder tourist arrivals from Singapore and Malaysia to Riau Islands in 2023.

"Yesterday it dropped to IDR 700 thousand, but recently it rose again to IDR 730 thousand, because Singapore port operators increased service or service charge costs," said Rudy Chua in Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands, Monday, January 2, as reported by Antara.

This condition, he said, needs to be occupied again between the local government and international ferry operators in order to find solutions related to the high ticket price. This is because sea transportation is a bridge connecting tourist visits to Riau Islands or vice versa.

Previously, the DPRD together with the Riau Islands Provincial Government had also reported the increase in ticket rates which were considered unreasonable to the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) in Medan, North Sumatra.

"But until now there has been no result, whether the ship operator is still losing because the passengers are not crowded or they want to recover finances after two years of the pandemic, we don't know yet," said Rudy.

In addition, Rudy also highlighted that the central government has again implemented the Visa On Arivval (VoA) cost policy for foreign tourists entering the country, especially the Riau Islands.

This policy can also trigger low interest in foreign tourists to come to Riau Islands, because this is related to the residence of foreign tourists who only about two or three days in the local area.

"It's different from Bali, the stay of foreign tourists there is longer. So they/tourists don't mind paying VoA fees," he said.

Rudy appreciated that the number of tourist visits to Riau Islands increased dramatically in 2022 in line with the improving conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on BPS data until October 2022, the number of tourist visits to Riau Islands reached 458 people, an increase of 200 percent more than 2021.

However, continued Rudy, local governments, in this case the tourism office, must not be complacent. Given the achievement of foreign tourist visits, it is still 1/4 of the total visits of foreign tourists to the Riau Islands before the COVID-19 pandemic, which was 2 million people.

He said, this would certainly be a challenge for the Riau Islands Provincial Government and stakeholders regarding how to increase foreign tourists visiting Riau Islands in 2023, at least the level of visits is the same as before the pandemic hit.

"My two notes are about ticket prices and VoA, if it becomes our common concern so that it does not become an obstacle to the recovery of foreign tourists visiting Riau Islands this year," said Rudy Chua.