As the "new normal" kicks in, travelers and the tourist sector have adapted to the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic.

City walking tours were a popular leisure activity before the pandemic. They attracted locals and tourists from different backgrounds with similar interests. Some of these tours were pay-as-you-wish, while others had fixed fees.

Vera T. is the founder of Jakarta Walking Tour, which she created in 2014. She keeps her tours as private and as small as possible since she believes everyone in the group needs to get to know each other.

Vera used to handle people from all around the world. She held three to four tours each week, with as many as two sessions a day during the peak season. However, everything came to a grinding halt when the borders were closed. She held zero tours for months in 2020, and this year her team only guided one person from the United States for a single day.

"Museums being closed, limited seating in indoor facilities, dining restrictions — these are all very hard to see. It's sad," said Vera, explaining why she frequently had to cancel some of the tours. “More importantly, we can't give people our best walking tour experience with social distancing and unhealthy conditions."

Victoria Fitria, a guide and social media manager for Bandung Good Guide in West Java, saw no international tourists during the early pandemic.

"We purposely made this everyday walking tour program in Bandung for the European market since we have English- and Dutch-speaking guides," explained Fitria. Her team specialized in European tourists, but when cross-border travel was made impossible, they turned their focus on local visitors.

"Bandung has always been a favorite destination for Jakartans, [so] we made Jakarta and Bandung itself as our new market. Currently, we provide a pay-as-you-wish daily walking tours and cycling tours."

Changing target: Bandung Good Guide switched its international target market to local tourists. (Courtesy of Bandung Good Guide) (Personal archive/Courtesy of Bandung Good Guide)

Meanwhile, Jogja Walking Tour decided to use the involuntary break to conduct research on material for new routes to anticipate the tourists' return.

It reopened its reservations in September 2020 with several adjustments to the ongoing conditions, including limiting the number of participants to a maximum of 25 people, from 35 to 40 people previously.

However, it has been nearly impossible to engage in business as usual during these unclear conditions, and it is up to the tour groups to improvise. "One of the locations turned out to be closed due to COVID-19, even though the participants had arrived there. We had to take the participants to a new location, and it eventually became a new route in the Jogja Walking Tour," said Erwin Djunaedi, Jogja Walking Tour's founder and guide.

Farid Mardhiyanto, the cofounder of Jakarta Good Guide, had to pause 30 of his routes in March 2020. It hosted up to 15 people each session and used to be available twice a day.

The team resorted to virtual tours in April. "Initially, it was only around Jakarta using Zoom and Google Maps. After a few months, we started doing virtual tours using Google Maps to other countries because some of our guides are also tour leaders who have led groups to foreign countries," said the 40-year-old businessman.

On the other hand, Semarang-based Bersukaria Walk (Let's be Happy Walk) in Central Java "spiced up" its offers to attract customers. "Because we now have a virtual tour, we can travel to 'another world,' and it turns out that one of our virtual tours that discusses mystical things and 'other' realms is quite attractive for tourists," said founder Fauzan Kautsar.

Many other tour companies have adopted this virtual strategy as well. The Bandung-based Komunitas Aleut, for instance, has all types of virtual exploration programs, starting from regular "walking" tours to "road trips" to the most rural, secluded areas.

"Some of us went to a village that was remote and far from the city. When we got there, there was an officer who checked us. They advised us to turn back because the location we were headed to was in a red zone," said Deuis Raniarti, the community's coordinator.

"[Now] we hold virtual tours using Google Earth, augmented reality, virtual reality, and other media that can support our activities."

Semblance of normalcy

Jakarta Good Guide limited the number of tour participants when it reopened its real-life tours to the public for the first time. One guide could only cater to 10 participants at most, and only those between 10 and 60 years old could participate.

It even adopted contactless payments to keep interaction minimal and everyone socially distanced. "We started encouraging participants to tip cashless, so we provide a QR code," said Farid.

Growing routes: Jogja Walking Tour's team decided to do further research during the pandemic break so they can provide more routes. (Courtesy of Jogja Walking Tour) (Personal archive/Courtesy of Jogja Walking Tour)

The team fully reverted to virtual tours once emergency public mobility restrictions (PPKM) were enforced. They only restarted their offline walking tours in September 2021 with even stricter requirements.

Now, their tours take no longer than 120 minutes and are mainly held outdoors. Participants are required to be vaccinated at least once, and they must be able to show proof of vaccination before the tour.

Meanwhile, Vera and Jakarta Walking Tour currently only provide private tours to smaller groups. "You need to socialize to feel the city's vibe — but safely," she advised.

Currently, offline tours have also resumed in some other big cities in Indonesia. Jogja Walking Tour welcomed travelers and locals back in October, although it still limits the number of participants, with masks required throughout the tours.

Semarang's Bersukaria Walk also restarted its offline tours with a clear, strict set of rules. "We’ve tried to reopen but with tight health protocols and limitations. We also operate on a booking-only basis [no walk-ins permitted]. For people outside of the city, they need to show us a negative swab test result."

With different themes each month, Bersukaria takes a maximum of 15 participants to various corners of Semarang every weekend on each tour while still hosting the popular virtual tours. Those who are not comfortable with large groups also have the option of joining a private tour.

Fauzan claimed that so far, no participants or guides have been infected by COVID-19 during the tours due to the tight protocols his team implements, and he hopes that things will stay that way in the future.

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