THE ASSOCIATION of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA) predicts that the Eid holiday in 2023 will be the highest peak of economic recovery and improvement after the COVID-19 pandemic in various sectors, especially tourism.
According to the Deputy Chairman of ASITA, Budijanto Ardiansjah, said the trend of local and foreign travel in Indonesia last year showed a significant increase. In fact, when compared to 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the economic increase from the tourism sector was recorded to increase by more than 10% in 2022.
“This means that the stretch of tourism in 2022 is even more massive than before the pandemic, this year I think the increase will reach 30% compared to last year,” said Budijanto.
Budijanto said that the lifting of regulations regarding all restrictions related to COVID-19, which is now sloping, is a major factor in the revival of the tourism sector and other sectors. In addition, the existence of the Tunjangan Hari Raya (THR), plus people’s savings that have been saved since the pandemic for traveling, will contribute to the economic surge in 2023.
“We know that in 2022, why was there a high economic increase? That’s because many people have not spent the allowances, they set aside for tourism in 2019-2021, this year I am sure there will be a tremendous increase,” he said.
Therefore, the ASITA Vice President ensures that many prospective tourists are ready to travel ahead of the Eid holiday, especially abroad, considering that many have not had the opportunity to leave for the Christmas and New Year holidays in 2022.
Currently, according to Budijanto, many travel agencies have also prepared vacation tour packages during Eid al-Fitr, as well as hotel managers who provide Ramadan packages such as iftar packages or breaking fast together.
He also predicts that Central Java and East Java will dominate tourism during this year’s Eid holiday, as well as Bali, Lombok, and Labuan Bajo for eastern Indonesia.
Meanwhile, countries in the Middle East and Eastern Europe such as the Netherlands, England, France, and Italy are also targeted by Indonesians to spend Eid holidays in 2023. [antaranews/photo special]