Indonesian stakeholders have noticed that its camping sector has immense potential to grow further, and are calling for the government to provide financial aid to help manage pandemic-related losses.
This is because nature tourism is in demand around the world, opined Bobobox’s CEO Adistyana Damaranti, which is why “both camping and glamping” is increasingly more popular among Indonesia’s domestic tourists.
In response to this trend, Bobotox developed Bobocabin, small cabins located in picturesque, nature-dense locations around Indonesia such as Lake Toba, North Sumatra, and Cikole, Lembang.
Moreover, occupancy at the seven Bobocabins throughout Indonesia has hovered above 90 per cent until the end of the year, said Dennis Depriadie, senior business development executive at Bobobox.
Aside from Bobocabin’s rapid expansion, many other camping and glamping sites are springing up, shared Adistyana.
Heni Smith, secretary general of PUTRI and CEO of The Lodge Group, agreed, stating that the company has also noticed camping tourism has increased, based on the popularity of its camping grounds.
Occupancy at The Lodge has also doubled that of 2020, buoyed by the domestic market, where Heni shared that the company’s focus will continue to be on the massive Indonesian domestic market.
Furthermore, according to market intelligence platform ReportLinker, the camping and caravanning sector is expected to reach US$101 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 9.9 per cent, up from the current US$69 billion in 2022, where Indonesia is one of the countries covered in a global market report.
However, funds are running low or have run out during the pandemic, prompting Heni and Redita Utomo, CEO of Merapi Park, to indicate that government assistance is very much needed to support this growing segment.
Utomo shared that when Merapi Park was closed during the pandemic, maintenance still had to continue. As such, even though the park has reopened, there are no funds left for marketing and promotions.
Similarly, Heni added that there were hardly any funds left in the tank, as money to maintain operations for The Lodge had run out during the pandemic.
When enquiries to the government were put forth, Irvan Chandra, an investment readiness assistance coordinator of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, stated: “The deputy for Industry and Investment at MoTCE can facilitate industry players to financing, either bank or non-banking.
“As directed by the minister, we must spur the growth of the tourism industry as a whole. (While the government’s) focus is on the five super-priority destinations, but it does not rule out (tourism) expansion in other destinations.”
