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Jakarta Post

Online travel businesses connect with convenience

People seeking more convenient, affordable and time-efficient ways of booking air tickets and hotels are turning to cyber-based travel agencies

The Jakarta Post
Thu, August 21, 2014

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Online travel businesses connect with convenience

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eople seeking more convenient, affordable and time-efficient ways of booking air tickets and hotels are turning to cyber-based travel agencies.

Although travel is no longer a luxury reserved for the rich, people still want to shop around for the best deals on airfare and accommodation. In today'€™s cyber-oriented times, those bargains are to be found with online travel agents.

Among the sites are goindonesia.com, traveloka.com and tiket.com; they offer online booking of air tickets and hotel accommodation.

Industry players note a spike in use by the public and a growing savvy to online travel advantages.

'€œMore and more people have started to use online travel agencies this year. They seem to be more adept at using the sites to book their tickets,'€ Traveloka managing director Fery Unardi was quoted as saying by bisnis.com.

He attributes the trend to the fact that more Indonesians are able to afford personal computers and smartphones which allow them to access the websites, even though the public'€™s connectivity to the Internet remains limited compared to other Southeast Asian countries.

But Indonesians enjoying greater connectivity, especially in urban areas, are embracing cyber solutions in their everyday lives, whether seeking up-to-the-minute news or engaging in online shopping, including for their travel needs.

Gaery Undarsa, tiket.com managing director, said an online agency website was a good start for travelers to plan their trip.

'€œNot to be overlooked are the discounted prices on offer, ranging from hotel room and car rental to airfare. Online travel websites typically offer such integrated services at relatively cheaper prices compared to brick-and-mortar travel agencies.'€

He stated that his company '€“ selected the top online ticket agent in 2013 by Citlink, Garuda Indonesia'€™s low-cost subsidiary '€“ had recorded positive growth since it was launched in late 2011, including a massive 1,400 percent increase in sales in 2013 compared to the previous year.

The website has sealed partnership deals with 10 domestic air carriers as well as 1,800 local and 85,000 international hotels. As such, it is certified as the provider of these companies'€™ online booking services. Tune Hotels Group, with a network spanning Malaysia, Indonesia, the UK, India, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia, is one partner.

The business will continue to grow in line with the emergence of new ticket reservation and car rental agencies, Gaery was quoted as saying by tempo.co.

'€œMeanwhile, tiket.com'€™s revenue and user growth increased by 3,100 percent in 2013,'€ he said, adding that more than 60 percent of users were considered loyal customers.

Company data shows the majority of the users, accounting for more than 70 percent of the total, are concentrated in Java.

In capitalizing on the positive trend, tiket.com will provide online car rental booking system as a means of expanding the company'€™s business. The company is cooperating with three major car rental firms in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bali in its initial phase, with Gaery targeting expansion to 10 cities by the end of the year.

Despite the lucrative prospects of running an online travel agent, Gaery lamented the inadequacies of many mobile travel applications. Although most online travel agents have mobile applications, more sophisticated features are needed.

He attributed the problem to the relative newness of online travel in the nation.

Google Indonesia travel department head Hengky Prihatna said many Indonesians lacked an understanding of how to utilize mobile applications for travel purposes. A sticking point for many is a perceived risk in conducting financial transactions online.

'€œSome people just don'€™t trust mobile applications as a safe and reliable method to execute payment transactions.'€

He acknowledged that slow Internet connection due to insufficient infrastructure to support cell phone networks was another cause for the public'€™s reluctance to connect to mobile travel applications. (JP)

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