Holiday is a necessity for Jakartans

Holiday is a necessity for Jakartans

There are several things we can't live without. Holiday seems to be one of them. As the long-awaiting holiday season is coming, people are busy with their travel plans. Holiday also means money for travel agents, hotels, airlines and others involved in tourist industry. The Jakarta Post writes a special report about holiday. More stories on page 6.

JAKARTA (JP): Harry, Cathy and their only daughter are busy packing for a trip to Australia. In fact, the family has been preparing their two-week holiday for months. Money has been their first consideration. Traveling abroad means spending quite a lot of money.

As a manager in a foreign consultancy company, Harry, 35, has been able to save part of his income for annual family holidays.

"Holidays have become part of our lives, although it means spending a whole year's savings. I've been working hard. Now, I need to escape from Jakarta's hustle-bustle and take a break for a little while," Harry said.

Another couple, Denny and Anna, plan to spend their year-end vacation in Toraja, South Sulawesi, and Manado, North Sulawesi.

"We have plans to visit some interesting places in Indonesia's 27 provinces every year. We've traveled abroad but have never been to Sulawesi or other eastern provinces. What a shame," said Anna, who works as a secretary at a state-owned bank.

These two young couples are representative of the fast-growing Indonesian middle class, which feels the need to set a special budget for at least a two-week holiday in their annual schedules.

The steady rise in real incomes has allowed thousands of Indonesians to enjoy the luxury of leisure travel. Indonesians still get less paid leave than employees in neighboring countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore, but enough to increase the demand for short breaks close to home.

Living in a hectic city like Jakarta with its stress at work and awful traffic jams can easily make people frantic. Holidays are a good chance to get away from the daily rush.

Local holiday venues like Bandung, Puncak and Carita in West Java, Yogyakarta and Bali are still favorite destinations for domestic vacationers. Other provinces like North Sumatra, East and West Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan and Maluku have also started to attract visitors.

But the demand for overseas holidaying among Indonesians has also been increasing sharply during the last few years. Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand rank as favorite holiday spots for many Indonesians. The United States, Canada and Europe come in second.

This holiday-making boom in Indonesia has forced related agencies, such as travel agencies, hotels and airlines, to give their best services to holidaymakers. The boom has also resulted in keen competition in the travel business.

For the coming peak season, a number of major travel agencies have set their strategies to draw as many clients as possible.

Grace Utomo, Vaya Tour's chief of overseas travel, said that in December people mostly go to New Zealand and Australia because it is summer there, whereas it is winter in the United States and Europe.

In December, Vaya Tour gives no discount for the New Zealand and Australia tours. However, for visits to Asia, Europe and the United States, the company gives a bonus by paying the exit tax (fiscal) expenses, Grace explained.

The New Zealand/Australia tours consist of three packages from five to 13 days. The price ranges from US$950 to $2,950 for adults.

People book months in advance for the December trip and only a few seats have not yet been sold, she said. "We only have one or two seats left," said Grace.

Giovanni, who works in the marketing section of Puri Holytour, said that the agency offers a special package called the Holyland Tour which lasts about eight days, during which people visit Christian holy places, including Bethlehem, the River Jordan, Jerusalem, Kapernaum, Lourdes in France and the Vatican in Italy.

Smailing Tour travel agency says that, of the total of 1,750 departures in December through the company, about 35 percent are to the United States, 35 percent to Australia and New Zealand.

Bobby Moningka, public relations officer of Smailing Tour, said there are three high seasons for tours: school holidays, from one to one-and-a-half months in June and July; year-end holidays, from 10 days to two weeks; and the Idul Fitri holiday, from one week to 10 days.

The United States is still attractive during winter because of its many attractions, including Disneyland. However, people generally shun Europe in December because it is too cold, said Bobby.

Smailing offers two packages: the Classic Tour, which provides five-star hotel accommodation; and the Trendy Tour Price, which is 30 to 40 percent cheaper than the Classic Tour.

Airlines

Airline companies are also enjoying healthy sales in the holiday season, with all seats to favorite destinations already fully booked.

The national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, for instance, will provide 110 extra flights, with 26,506 seats, to cater for the increasing number of passengers during the upcoming Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year holidays from Dec. 21 to Feb. 24.

The extra services will increase the number of Garuda's flights by 16 percent over its 651 regular flights.

To help passengers, Garuda will provide city check-in facilities in 19 towns.

Mochtar, a marketing executive of Taiwan's Eva Air, said that the seats of its flights to Taipei and the United States from Dec. 15 to Jan. 9 are fully booked.

"Travel agents started making the reservations six months ago, while individuals began doing so two or months ago," he said.

Qantas sales representative Rudy Prasetyadi said that seats for the flights from Jakarta to Sydney, Perth and Singapore are fully-booked for the period Dec. 19 to Jan. 7. There is no sharp increase in the number of passengers in the flights from Denpasar to Sydney, Darwin and Perth because these are full the whole year round.

An executive of Sempati Air, meanwhile, said that tickets from Jakarta to Batam in Riau, Denpasar in Bali, Singapore and Perth had been sold out for the period Dec. 23 to Jan. 5.

"We are already closed. The waiting list is too long," he said. "The seats to other favorite destinations -- Medan, Manado and Lombok -- are also fully-booked, but we can still put you on the waiting list," he added.

He said Sempati might provide some extra flights to meet the high demand.

Hotel operators also see big markets in family holidays. Hotels in Bali have been fully booked by local and foreign tourists for the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays, said Tommy Raka, chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association.

"Several days ahead of Christmas and New Year, tourism in Bali will be booming," he added.

All the rooms in 25 big hotels on the island province have been fully booked by local and foreign travel bureaus, he said yesterday, adding that small hotels will also benefit from the tourism boom.

Intan Petersen of Nusa Dua Beach Hotel said that this year is rather unusual in that Bali may suffer a shortage of hotel rooms.

"A number of hotels are being renovated or have failed to open this season, but they have accepted bookings which should be transferred to other hotels," Intan said.

Kathryn Kainama, public relations manager of Grand Preanger Hotel in Bandung, says the holidays will see tourism booming in the provincial capital. Almost all the city's hotels, the star- rated in particular, are full. The Grand Preanger's occupancy rate is expected to be between 90 percent and 100 percent over the holiday season.

Meanwhile, Ray Butler, general manager of Carita Beach Hotel in West Java, said that this year many more people will spend their holidays in the Carita area, which is now growing in popularity as a tourist resort.(raw/jsk/sim))