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Travel is back, but a rise in local trips highlights economic stress
Research by state-owned lender Bank Mandiri shows that intra-provincial travel, or trips within the same province, jumped 45.9 percent in 2024, reversing the trend seen in 2022 and 2023 when longer journeys dominated.
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Major attraction: Dancers perform the Barongsai (lion) dance on Feb. 10, 2024, at Pantjoran Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) in Jakarta. (Antara/Sulthony Hasanuddin)
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omestic tourism soared to a post-pandemic high last year, but the growth masks a key shift that more people are opting to travel closer to home, a trend businesses and experts suggest reflects economic stress and a potential drag on the sector’s outlook.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post on May 2, Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) deputy chairman Maulana “Alan” Yusran confirmed a behavioral shift among travelers, noting that more people were cutting back on long trips due to economic strain.
“Weaker purchasing power has led many people to delay long-distance trips and instead opt for short-distance travel within their local areas,” Alan said.
Travel between provinces was mostly limited to long weekends or holiday periods, such as Christmas and Idul Fitri, he said, while noting a big drop in weekday business trips that are typically a key driver of year-round demand.
It was not until the fourth quarter of 2024 that businesses noticed a significant drop in hotel occupancy as the government implemented budget cuts, Alan said, which made businesses “worry a whole lot more”.
Read also: Hotels see revenue decline amid budget cuts: Survey
New research by state-owned lender Bank Mandiri shows that intra-provincial travel, or trips within the same province, jumped 45.9 percent in 2024, reversing the trend seen in 2022 and 2023 when longer journeys dominated.
