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ravelers and travel agents alike are planning for next year'€™s holidays and cuti bersama (collective leave) as the year enters its fi nal month and 2016 looms large.

Many people plan their travels far in advance in anticipation of ticket price surges during peak season.

Obet Nego Parasian, a 23-year-old Tangerang resident, said on Wednesday that he planned to go to Yogyakarta during the Idul Fitri holiday, which the government has predicted will fall on July 6 and 7 next year.

'€œI'€™m Christian, but we usually get a long vacation during Idul Fitri,'€ he said, adding that he needed take only a few days leave for a 10-day holiday.

Idul Fitri is the largest national holiday in Indonesia. While the government gives only two days off to celebrate it, workers can enjoy around nine days off from July 2 to 10 if they combine the national holidays with three days of collective leave on July 4, 5 and 8, as well as the four weekend days. Collective leave refers to the government obliging civil servants to take some of their 12 days of annual leave at the same time.

Obet, who said he would travel with his girlfriend and friends by train, said that he knew Yogyakarta would be crowded during the holiday, but that he did not mind. '€œBeing in a crowded place is an occupational hazard for travelers,'€ he said.

Unlike Obet, Rizky Basuki Rachmat, a 29-year-old father of two, said he preferred quiet holidays. Rizky said he planned to go to Malang, East Java, on Sept. 10 next year. '€œHowever, after learning the date was the beginning of a long weekend, I'€™m going to change my plans.'€

Rizky said he avoided long weekends or national holidays, as tourist destinations were packed with other travelers. '€œMy children wouldn'€™t be comfortable,'€ he said.

Yanty Wijaya, the marketing communications manager of travel agent Dwidaya Tour, said that her company had anticipated next year'€™s holidays and long weekends by introducing a number of new tour packages.

'€œMany of our customers have started booking group tours for the fi rst half of next year, both for domestic and international destinations,'€ she said.

One of the tours, Yanty said, was to enjoy a solar eclipse predicted to occur in March. '€œThe tour will be to Ternate [North Maluku], Labuan Bajo [East Nusa Tenggara] or Pangkal Pinang [Bangka Belitung],'€ she said.

The Religious Affairs Ministry, Manpower Ministry and Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry announced in June that 2016 would see at least 11 national holidays falling on weekdays, while three others would fall on Sundays.

Next year there will be a number of long weekends. Workers can enjoy a four-day vacation from May 5 to 8 for Ascension Day.
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