INDONESIAN outbound travel consultants are expecting stronger demand to the US this year with the recent formation of the Visit USA Committee by the US embassy in Jakarta.
Panorama Tours Indonesia managing director – corporate incentive management, Vidya Hermanto, said: “There have been no tourism marketing and promotional activities between Indonesia and the US in the last 10 years or so, and obtaining a visa has been difficult due to security reasons.
“The Visit USA committee has shown interest in enticing the Indonesian outbound travellers to the US again, not only from the leisure sector, but also from corporates and students.”
The US was one of Indonesians’ favourite destinations in the 1990s, connected with direct air services, including Garuda Indonesia. However, the market declined in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and Garuda’s suspension of its US services.
According to WITA Tour director of sales, Rudiana, the US embassy had recently eased the visa application process, such as waiving interviews for travellers who had been previously granted a US visa.
Smailing Tour vice president MICE, Lucky Albertinus, said: “The interest to travel to the US has never been totally dead for us – there are FITs, families or small groups. These are mostly (travellers) who already hold a multiple visa, so they just need to book a flight and go.
“There may not be a drastic change in visa application requirements in the short term, but we can generate more interest from Indonesian travellers with new products (in the US). Honestly, the products we have been selling are the same old ones, so we would like the trade in the US to introduce and promote new destinations and products here,” he urged.
“The Visit USA committee opens up (opportunities) to develop the market, not only for outbound but also inbound traffic from the US as well.”
