indonesia's nature to lure tourists post pandemic - trip.com

Trip.com a global online travel agency, stated that Indonesia will be one of the most lucrative tourist destination post pandemic because its beautiful nature based attractions.

Jane Sun, Group CEO of Trip.com said that after the pandemic tourists are expected to opt for visiting nature outdoor places with less crowd and that is something Indonesia is blessed with.

“Indonesia is a very big country with many beautiful islands,” Sun said on a press briefing. “Indonesia can organize [the destinations] in a way that is presentable to these consumers, so it will capitalize a lot on this opportunity.”

The pandemic has been brutal to tourism sector and battered the tourism in Indonesia. oreign tourist visits to Indonesia have plunged 87.44 percent year-on-year (yoy) to 160,000 visitors in April, the lowest in recent history.

Indonesia could lure the tourists to them easily by the right kind of promotion strategies which shows the richness of its destinations maintaining the safety and health standards.

Terawan Agus Putranto, Health Minister signed a decree on June 19 for public facilities, restaurants, shopping malls, convention halls, fitness centers, public transportation and tourist destinations.

Sun stated that it is no doubt that corona virus has changed the general dynamics of tourism along with the preferences & trends of tourists. Other than outdoor destinations, traveling in small groups is now being preferred while focusing on hygiene and health aspects. 

The recent Travel Trends report by Trip.com Group in partnership with tech giant Google found that interest in short-haul travel was also quickly developing, while safety and flexibility had also become the main considerations.

“We see that customers [nowadays] tend to book accommodation at the very last minute and in hotels with free cancellations and refunds,” she said.

Trip.com recently took the initiative of "Travel On" by introducing promotions, guarantees and flexibilities which are aimed at helping and promoting the travel-related industries to recover. The group is providing up to 60 percent discounts on flexible advanced reservations with more than 30k partners in 180 countries.

Indonesia will remain one of the most favorable countries to visit during the "new normal" period for chinese tourists as per the Trip.com

Madeleine Sophie, spokesperson of Indonesian Travel Agency Association who also runs Era Tours, said the main key to attract the travelers in the new era will be Indonesia's richness in nature-based tourism.

“People are hoping to visit natural tourist destinations, such as waterfall and beaches. Fortunately, we are rich in those kinds of destinations. So, the COVID-19 pandemic has actually made us realize that Indonesia can be a one-stop destination, for natural destinations because we have everything from mountains, valleys, rivers, waterfalls, caves and even local culinary wisdom,” said Madeleine.