Ravaged rupiah shadows holiday travelers' plans
By Stevie Emilia
JAKARTA (JP): The holiday season is almost upon us, and it is high time to look for places to unwind from our daily routines.
Unfortunately, there is the long shadow of the monetary crisis. The value of the dollar against the rupiah has doubled to more than Rp 5,000 in several months. Those with long-held plans or merely considering getting away are now being forced to think again.
"The currency crisis is really bad and it is affecting our holiday plan a lot," said Christina Lim, managing director of PT Harita Securities.
She is planning to spend Christmas and New Year's in New Jersey with her husband, their one-year-old child and her husband's family who reside there.
Christina says she will not cancel the trip, but is now considering carefully all possible expenditures, particularly for shopping and accommodation.
"I can't say that I won't go shopping at all there, but I'll be very careful and only buy necessary things," she said.
Others are preferring to spend these holidays at home, especially as New Year's Eve coincides this year with the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan.
Netty B. Rianto, honorary chairwoman of the Association of Indonesian Businesswomen, often spends the holiday season abroad with her son and two daughters. Last year, they traveled to Singapore.
This year, however, she is going to Lampung for a family visit.
"We won't go on our holiday trip this year because of Ramadhan."
Depreciation of the rupiah is putting the brakes on the travel industry's sales.
"For outbound trips, the number of our customers has decreased about 50 percent compared to last year," said Grace Utomo, Vayatour's outbound manager.
But Indonesians are unpredictable, she said.
"It's possible they will make last-minute plans for taking holiday trips."
Some travel bureaus are gearing up to lure more customers by offering attractive prices for holiday packages.
Vayatour, Grace said, had already reduced its prices by almost 50 percent below regular ones, except for its Hong Kong offer of $666 for two people.
"But how far can we reduce the prices of our products? Even though we keep lowering our prices, they are still no match for the sharp decline of rupiah against the U.S. dollar," Grace said.
The bureau, she said, had reduced prices of each package from $25 up to $100 to lure prospective travelers.
Another travel bureau, Smailing Tur, is facing the same tough situation.
"The number of customers taking year-end holidays has decreased compared to last year's, but we haven't calculated the percentage of the decrease yet," said Smailing Tur's public relations manager, Bobby Moningka.
Smailing Tur held a big sale of its holiday packages, with special discounts, from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15.
Prices of overseas tour packages to Australia and New Zealand was set from US$950 up to $2,750. A cruise to Singapore and Malaysia is available starting from $190.
In addition to holidays packages, the travel bureau claims that it is also offering cheap fares for domestic and international air tickets.
"The sale was expected to help boost our sales. But most customers prefer to buy tickets instead of holiday packages," Bobby said.
Most are choosing vacations spots within the country instead of overseas, he added.
ANTA Express also suffered a decline in the number of its customers.
"There are still some people opting for holiday packages abroad, but their number is smaller than last year," said Lita, the bureau's tour official.
The bureau has opened several stands in malls to promote its packages, she said, without revealing the prices set for each vacation.
They are just two of many agencies trying to get customers to make a commitment. Association of Indonesian Travel Agencies (Asita) groups some 1,700 travel agents nationwide, more than 70 percent of which are located in Jakarta.
Bali
The economic crisis does not seem to have dimmed Bali's sheen as the country's most attractive tourist destination.
Club Med's sales official, Verra, said its resort in Bali was fully booked for December.
"The depreciation has not had much effect on the occupancy of Club Med's village in Bali even though all our guests pay in dollars, not in rupiah," Verra said.
For year's end, Club Med Bali is offering a rate of $165 per guest per night, an increase from the usual rate of $100.
Hotels are also predicting a flow of incoming vacationers to the island.
Bali Hilton's public relations manager, Rosalina Norita, said the hotel projected it would be fully booked starting from Dec. 20.
"At present, we have already minus 14 (rooms)," Rosalina said.
The hotel is offering a special room rate, the Christmas package, for its deluxe room for $115, including tax, until Dec. 26.
"The package depends on room availability," Rosalina said.
The hotel is not offering any other special rates, and will charge full rate plus 30 percent surcharge.
"We are not offering special rates for New Year's because we consider it the right time to boost our sales," Rosalina said.
"We're expecting many people from Jakarta and Surabaya will celebrate New Year's Eve here as both cities are banning parties at that time."
Hilton room rates range from $160++ to $260++.