AUSTRALIA has recaptured Indonesian travellers’ attention through aggressive promotions and tacticals, with Indonesia-based outbound agents saying demand to the country was up by more than 40 per cent last year.
Multi Holiday managing director, Rudy Techrisna, said: “Tourism Australia and state tourism organisations in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland have been promoting to the Indonesian market over the last couple of years.”
Qantas’ introduction of promotional deals targeting Indonesian travellers last year also helped boost traffic.
The Indonesian market to Australia, one of the top Indonesian outbound destinations in the 1990s, plummeted following the 1998 social and political upheaval that saw Tourism Australia closing its office there.
While Indonesians are seemingly hooked on Australia, the agents are worried about the impact of rising fuel prices on air tickets, as well as the strengthening Australian currency on package prices.
Chan Brothers Indonesia’s general manager, Bobby Hendry, said: “Airlines have started hiking prices due to the oil price increase. The impact is still too early to project, but I hope it will not continue.”
Australia Centre director Rudy Prasetyadi added: “The Australian dollar is becoming stronger, so packages priced in US dollars are getting more expensive.”
