Indonesian unicorn and OTA Traveloka has expanded to Australia as it partners the tourism ministry on a campaign to boost arrivals into the country.
The online booking provider started operations in Australia last week, allowing Australians to access its five products; flight ticketing and hotel booking services, flight ticket and hotel packages, airport accommodation, entertainment and utility services through its website and application.
Traveloka global partnership head Yady Guitana as saying that Australia is relatively ahead of South-east Asian countries in terms of internet connection and penetration as well as payment infrastructure.
He said: “We hope that our digital presence in Australia can further enrich lives of our users by empowering them to discover the world around them by offering a various travel and lifestyle products in one platform.”
Traveloka has also partnered the Indonesian Tourism Ministry on the Wonderful Indonesia campaign, which is aimed at helping the government reach the target of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, Yady said.
Edy Wardoyo, deputy of marketing development 1 at the Indonesia Ministry of Tourism said: “The government’s target to attract 20 million foreign tourists will not be achieved if it does not synergise with players in the industry. Together with Traveloka, we hoped this synergy can help our mission, and we will continue to support Traveloka to exist in this new market.
“The Australian market itself is one of the promising tourism markets, where foreign tourist visits from Australia to Indonesia continue to increase year on year. Traveloka’s decision to open in the Australian market is very important to help in facilitating travel access and answer the diverse travel needs of users,” added Edy.
Indonesia was the second-top travel destination for Australians after New Zealand in 2018, according to market research and business intelligence portal Statista.
Statistics Indonesia recorded 1.3 million Australian tourist arrivals in the country in 2018. The tourism ministry expects to see the number increase 15 per cent this year to reach 1.5 million.
