Indonesian tourists rely heavily on travel agencies
JAKARTA (JP): The majority of Indonesian outbound tourists are dependent on travel agencies when choosing travel destinations, booking airlines and arranging accommodations, a researcher says.
Low Pok Geh, the San Francisco-based research director of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), said in the fourth PATA- Asia Business Forum here yesterday that Indonesian's main reason for overseas travel is seeking out new experiences.
"It's completely different from people in other countries like Singapore, Thailand or Hong Kong, whose main reason is to get away from work and relax," Low said.
The forum is followed today with the eighth meeting of PATA's Asian Chapters.
Low told the one-day meeting that her remarks are based on questionnaire responses from 828 respondents of over 18 years, living as permanent residents in Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Medan or Ujungpandang and have taken at least one overseas vacation in the last three years.
An Indonesian tourist usually spends 11.6 nights away on an Asia-Pacific holiday, during which his or her average expenditure is US$6,800.
She said that in the past, Singapore, West Europe, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan have been the top six destinations.
The ranking has now changed with Singapore, Australia, West Europe, the United States (excluding Hawaii), Japan and Malaysia as the most popular six destinations, she said.
Low said between 61 percent and 78 percent of her respondents acknowledged their travel agencies choose their respective travel destinations and accommodations.
The 42-year-old PATA, currently chaired by Indonesian Minister of Tourism, Posts and Telecommunications Joop Ave, has 78 chapters with over 16,000 members in 37 countries.
Family
Low said most Indonesian travelers are family fun lovers, whose major motivation in overseas traveling is to develop "good facilitation for the family," and "good recreational and sporting facilities."
She said 49 percent of Indonesian travelers choose their spouses or partners as traveling companions.
Another speaker, Bill Pardos, the regional vice president of the American Express, said travelers' expenditure in the Asia- Pacific region is likely to increase from an estimated $75 billion in 1995 to $150 billion in 2005.
A report of the Intelligence Center of PATA said that the top five travel destinations in the Asia-Pacific region in 1993 were Hong Kong, Singapore, Hawaii, mainland America and Thailand.
It reported the origin of visitors traveling to the Asia- Pacific region in 1993 as 33.37 million coming from Asia, 8.96 million from North America, 6.5 million from Europe and 2.53 million from Pacific countries. (09)