ER
STARTING from discussions with a number of the hotel industry from Central Java, and travel agents from the Eastern Indonesia region, who participated in Travex ATF 2023 regretted that the buyers were quiet at the event and did not live up to expectations.
During the three-day Travel Exchange which was part of the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2023 event which took place in Yogyakarta, from 3-5 February 2023, the majority complained about the organization of the tourism exchange.
The news that was quoted from wartaevent.com, it was stated that sellers who participated in Travex ATF 2023 spent quite a lot of money, starting from IDR10 million, almost IDR18 million, up to IDR50 million. Hoping to reap the benefits of participating in the Travex event, but far from they expectations.
Since it was opened from the beginning of Travex event, one of the travel agents admitted to complaining, because he had not received a business appointment from the buyers who attended. “The first day there were indeed 4 buyers, 2 from local and 2 from foreign. But they haven’t shown any direction that there will be business. They are just asking questions,” he said.
The same thing was also acknowledged by one of the hotel operators from Indonesia. On the first day, he only received visits from 2 foreign buyers. And even then, there was no appointment. “In fact, we paid for this booth almost IDR18 million,” he explained.
Even one of the hotel managements in Indonesia complained about the same thing. When met on the closing day of Travex, Sunday (02/05), 2033, he said it was not as expected. Even though we got a discounted price to participate in this Travex tourism exchange, it’s still far from expectations. Buyers who come and the potential is still small. Even until the closing of the exhibition, we did not receive a list of buyers from the committee
As far as organizing a tourist exchange, both national and international scale list buyers are very important. Sellers can measure and see whether the buyers are potential or not.
Need Quality Buyers
Meanwhile David Lai, Business Development Manager of Booking Meta said, from several following the organization of Travex ATF in other countries, this is one of the less pleasant experiences for us. Since the beginning I came, the organizers did not prepare clear travel instructions, especially since the distance from the airport to the exhibition site is quite far.
David continued, the organizers of an international-class event like this should have provided sufficient directions and/or information centers related to ATF 2023. He also complained about having to wait more than an hour for the transportation process from the airport to the hotel.
According to David, even when he arrived at the official hotel, he admitted that he did not find sufficient information data, starting from the schedule, and what kind of event, roundown. In fact, this is something he must receive as a buyer.
He also complained about the list of buyers. In fact, an event of this size must have a pre-schedule appointment (PSA) before the buyers come. And that, must have been there before D-4 before arrival to Indonesia. But in fact, he did not get it. In terms of organizing Travex, there is still a lot to be tidied up, especially the quality of the buyers.
Similarly, Awan Aswinabawa, Advisory Board of the Indonesian Travel Agent Association (ASTINDO) said that the quality of potential buyers who come is still lacking. Though this is very important for sellers, because they pay a price that is not cheap.
Because paying is not cheap, it is only natural that these sellers get buyers who are worthy both in terms of potential and quality. “Actually, things like this have to be prepared or anticipated,” he said.
In fact, the main purpose of meeting between sellers and buyers is to have clearer business prospects. “The ratio between buyers and sellers should be two to one or three to one. This way, sellers will not hesitate and feel at a loss to join this Travex ATF 2023,” said Awan.
Once again, the quality of buyers is the most important thing in a travel exchange like Travex which is international. “The quality of buyers in question is buyers who have sufficient purchasing power. Then buyers who have experience who have the ability to sell the tour packages offered, as well as buyers who have sufficient capital market,” he continued.
Astindo itself admits that it is not too concerned about this, because it already has a pretty good list of buyers. “But what needs to be noted is that Astindo’s name is already well known. In addition, before this event was held, we had contacted the buyers personally,” Awan concluded. [wartaevent.com/photo special]
