JakartaPost-Dec 15

Both the government and business players are preparing to embrace two major holidays, Christmas and New Year, which it is hoped will be catalysts in spurring domestic spending on leisure activities that will boost the tourism recovery. In a hearing session with the House of Representatives Commission V, which oversees infrastructure and transportation affairs, the Transportation Ministry announced that there would be no mobility restrictions during this end-of-year holiday season.

Since 2020, authorities had been heavily restricting transportation flows during these two festivities, along with other major holidays, in accordance with the need to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, since the beginning of this year, particularly after fears over the spread Omicron variant passed, the government has been allowing consumers to travel and purchase offline goods without the tight restrictions, including during the Ramadan and Idul Fitri festivities. “This is a blessing for us, where the Christians can celebrate Christmas and all of us can celebrate New Year’s Eve,” Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi told commission members on Tuesday. As a result, preliminary research from the Transportation Ministry showed that 16.35 percent of the nationwide population, some 44.17 million people, would travel during the upcoming holiday season, up from the 13 percent in 2021 but still far below the 55 percent in 2019. The Greater Jakarta area is expected to provide the lion’s share of travelers with 7.1 million people, followed by East Java and West Java with 6.2 million people and 5.8 million, respectively. Meanwhile, the top destinations are forecast to be Yogyakarta city with 1.9 million expected arrivals, followed by Bandung regency and Malang regency with 1.3 million and 1.19 million each. The research also shows that 28.26 percent of the travelers prefer private cars as their transportation mode, followed by motorcycles and intercity trains at 16.47 percent and 13.42 percent, respectively. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2022/12/14/first-normal-year-end-holiday-since-pandemic-a-windfall-for-tourism.html