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THE RECOVERY of the travel and tourism industry will be supported by domestic travel in line with changes in tourist behavior after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
According to Traveloka President Caesar Indra Caesar during the Tech in Asia Conference 2021 event session held online on Tuesday (10/12) assessing that people have started traveling again, that’s a good sign but in a different way because their needs have changed during the pandemic.
He said his party saw a rapid increase in routine flight and accommodation transactions in every market that Traveloka serves in Southeast Asia.
Caesar affirmed 44% of Traveloka users in Indonesia prefer to travel within short distances in their home city and only 3% who want to travel outside the city. While in other countries, such as Vietnam, 40% of users in that country prefer to stay in hotels.
“This may be because they have been separated for a while from their loved ones, friends and family, so they really want to spend more time with the people closest to them as soon as travel restrictions start to be eased,” he noted.
Caesar explained that the COVID-19 pandemic situation was indeed unpredictable but his party remained optimistic about international travel opportunities. Southeast Asia is home to one of the fastest growing travel and tourism industry markets in the world. This has been driven by a large middle-class population of 300 million people.
“Many of the middle-class have never traveled internationally so they aspire to travel to other countries. So, we look forward to seeing more long-term opportunities for overseas travel. With restrictions on health protocols and increased vaccinations, we hope international travel will continue to thrive,” he elaborated.
To assist and support the acceleration of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, his party has also carried out a number of collaborations and collaborations with the government.
“In Indonesia, we have focused on vaccination efforts in collaboration with the government. For example, we established Traveloka COVID-19 vaccination centers in Yogyakarta, South Tangerang, and Soekarno-Hatta Airport,” Caesar added.
In addition, his office also supports other vaccination centers, including in Bandung and Central Jakarta, which currently have more than 1,000 people who have received vaccinations.
“Overall, these have been challenging times for the tourism industry, but we are very optimistic about the recovery, supported by growing demand across the region for domestic travel and services,” he concluded. [special photo]
