Hotel Entrepreneurs Anxious About Impact of Rising Airfare Prices and Limited Fleet
The national tourism industry is beginning to beware of the potential slowdown in domestic tourist travel ahead of the school holiday season. High air ticket prices and pressure on public purchasing power have become the main challenges now facing the tourism sector.
General Secretary of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Maulana Yusran said that domestic tourists remain the backbone of Indonesia’s tourism industry. Therefore, the economic condition of the public greatly determines the movement of that sector.
“If we talk about tourism in Indonesia, the most important thing is actually the contribution of domestic tourist travel. To encourage its development, the first thing that must be maintained is public purchasing power. If purchasing power is low, travel will certainly be difficult to undertake,” said Maulana to CNBC Indonesia on Thursday (7/5/2026).
In addition to purchasing power, transportation access issues are also seen as major obstacles. As an archipelagic country, Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to drive inter-regional domestic travel. Unfortunately, the rise in air ticket prices is said to be starting to hit public interest in travelling.
“Now with this increase in ticket prices, it becomes a challenge in itself. Not to mention the number of aircraft fleets for domestic travel is still limited,” he said.
PHRI also highlighted the increase in fuel oil (BBM) prices which impacts land travel costs. Pressure from transportation costs is now felt in almost all tourist travel routes. The unstable global situation is also making the domestic tourism sector increasingly vulnerable.
“If domestically, domestic tourist travel does indeed have many challenges. With the current geopolitical situation, the main thing is to maintain public purchasing power,” said Maulana.
PHRI noted that hotel occupancy rates in January and February were actually lower compared to the same period last year. An increase only started to appear in March due to the Eid momentum.
Comparison with the previous year also needs to be looked at in detail because the difference in Ramadan and Eid momentum affects public travel patterns.
“This year’s March had the contribution of Eid, while last year was full of Ramadan. During Ramadan, hotel occupancy is almost never above 40%,” he said.
PHRI is now focusing on the second quarter-2026 situation after the Eid momentum passes. The hotel industry is said not to want to feel too secure just because of a temporary surge during the homecoming season.
“Later we will see in the second quarter how it is after the Eid holiday passes. So we also should not be too complacent with the current conditions,” said Maulana.