A week ago, Indonesian were shocked by the announcement of an increasing ticket prices to hike Borobudur Temple. According to the plan, the ticket price to go to the Stupa for local tourist is Rp 750.000 and for foreign tourist is $100 or around Rp 1.450.000. This condition creates fear for some people who says the ticket price is too expensive that will make Borobudur Temple going to loss visitors and the ticket prices is the backfire.
When this news going viral, many people think that expensive price is only for entrancing Borobudur Temple location. In fact, the price of temple admission is not change – it remains Rp 50.000 for adults and Rp 25.000 for children. So, the increasing ticket price is only for somebody who plan to go up to Borobudur Temple or Stupa.
The Indonesian also has a lot of speculation behind the increasing ticket price. Reporting from Kompas.com – Dony Oskaria, President Director of PT Aviasi Wisata Indonesia (Persero) stated several reasons why the ticket price to hike Borobudur Temple was increased:
- Limiting the number of visitors
- Improving temple maintenance
These two reasons are not a crap. Many testimonies explain visitors are not complying with the rules. Disposing trash, sitting on stupas, and other actions that are less commendable, it is feared that the condition of the temple will continue deterioration.
Moreover, there is also a plan to make tourist have an online reservation first before able to buy ticket to hike Borobudur Temple.
From this viral case, including various people responses regarding the discourse of increasing ticket price to hike Borobudur Temple, it actually indicates something interesting: the rise of Indonesian tourism. The actors in the tourism industries, brands, and other related parties should respond this as a bright spot for the future.
How is Tourism Interest in 2021?
Before we continue to know how the condition of tourism industry will be in 2022, it is better to know in advance how its condition in 2021. Last year is a period which Indonesian are still shrouded in the threat of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Reporting from Kompas.com and the Google Year in Search 2021 report – people are getting used to the ambiguity that occurred last year.
The search behavior of Indonesian for tourism in 2021 is still large. Domestic travel is increasing, many people choose cities on the island of Java that are still affordable. This makes the trend of road travel more popular. Based on the number of searches for the period September 2021 – December 2021, here are the 5 most popular domestic destinations:
- Bandung
- Yogyakarta
- Cisarua
- Semarang
- Batu
If it is need to be described with numbers, then search interest for domestic tourism grew by 57%. Related to the trend of road travel which is increasingly in demand, keyword searches for car rentals are up 21% in 2021. Seeing this growth, it is clear that it will increase in the following year.
Then, How About 2022?
From Google Travel Insights – said that globally, tourist who want to visit Indonesia was increased by 91% from the previous achievement in 2019. This may happened due to travel restriction and quarantine policies had been revoked in March 2022. On average, Bali where Kuta and Ubud became destinations with the highest search rates. Most of the applicants are from Australia, USA, India, UK, and Singapore.
For domestic tourists, in March 2022, searches for tourist trips increased by 16% compared to 2019. In the last year, in the period March 2021 to March 2022, searches for tourist buses increased by 45%, Bali 152%, and staycations 33%. With this data, it can be interpreted that Indonesian interest for tourism is already great.
Still from the same report, in 2022, there are top three most searched destinations:
- Kuta
- Bali
- Borobudur
The third destination which is Borobudur, coincidentally has been a topic of discussion lately because of the Government and administrators discourse who want to increase the ticket price to hike Borobudur Temple. If the red thread is drawn, the people’s desire to travel is unbearable.
Insight, Insight, Insight
- Interest in traveling has been positively accumulating since the end of 2021.
- Domestic travel is the most desirable trip.
- Road/land transportation is the most searched yet.
- Staycation is a type of tourism which also on demand.
Recommendations for Brands and Actors in the Tourism Industry
The various insights described above can help brands and all actors in Indonesia tourism industry make the decisions or communication strategies needed.
When people have determined their plans to go on vacations, staycations, or take domestic trips to various local destinations – brands and actors in the tourism industry must always ensure that the products or services they offer are always be the first to remember.
Moreover, the condition of the COVID-19 Pandemic which is gradually improving become an opportunity for brands so that their products or services remain a solution to their worries when they want to travel.
By understanding the various insights or trends described above, brands and actors in the tourism industry can have the right decisions to support their operational activities, such as advertising. However, as a separation note – advertisements or other communication strategies can be right on target, brands, and other parties can conduct research or surveys first to get deeper insights.
StratX as part of KG Media can help brands and tourism industry players to conduct research or surveys before creating advertising or other operational activities such as campaign. This step needs to be done so that the strategy you want to implement can be right on target. Of course, brands and other parties do not want to catch fish in empty ponds in Indonesia’s rising tourism trend.
