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Mandalika or Krabi? High local airfares limit travel to ‘super priority’ destinations
Aside from high domestic airfares, natural disasters, security, infrastructure and accessibility issues pose a challenge to the government's drive to increase tourist arrivals.
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A small cove awash with natural blues, greens and browns is one of the attractions of Mandalika, a small resort area on Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara that is being touted as a "new Bali". (Tourism Indonesia/-)
T
he government’s “super priority” tourist destinations, also dubbed the “new Balis”, have attracted the interest of local travelers, but they stop short of actually booking holidays to these exotic locations for several reasons, including high domestic airfare.
Having seen the beauties of Labuan Bajo on Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, just east of the island habitat of the Komodo dragon, 29-year-old Abe Dhimas dreams of visiting more scenic destinations in his home country: the Raja Ampat Islands off the coast of West Papua province and Banda Neira of the Banda Islands in Maluku province.
But the high price of domestic flights has put his travel plans on hold, including a plan to visit Morotai Island in North Maluku, which is high in his bucket list of travel destinations alongside Mandalika on Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara.
Mandalika is one among five new Balis, the other four being Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Borobudur Temple in Central Java, Likupang in North Sulawesi and the aforementioned Labuan Bajo.
“It’s pretty expensive right now to travel domestically. For Morotai, I need at least Rp 2.5 million one way. I should save more money for traveling this year,” said the Jakarta-based private employee, who takes pride in being an avid domestic traveler. Abe used to travel to at least four domestic destinations a year, excluding short impromptu trips on weekends.
Faizal Ramadan, 27, also had to cancel his plan to visit Labuan Bajo this year, because flight tickets have remained exorbitant since the end of 2018. “The accommodation in Labuan Bajo is not that expensive, but return flights there cost up to Rp 3 million. I need more time to prepare," said the Surabaya-based content creator.
High airfare is not a problem that is exclusive to Dhimas and Faizal. The Indonesian Travel Agents Association (Astindo) said high domestic airfares had made it difficult for travel agents to promote the government’s super priority tourist destinations, especially since many international travel packages were more affordable.
