Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno anticipates a surge in domestic tourist movements, or locally abbreviated wisnus, during the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays, estimating around 200 million journeys. This prediction doubles the earlier forecast of 107 million made by Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi.
“We believe it could be even more, perhaps twice as much. Our estimate is around 200 million movements,” stated Sandi after attending the Best Tourism Village 5.0 Awards Ceremony on Sunday night (26/11/2023).
This forecast is grounded in the observation that when domestic tourists arrive in an area, they tend not to limit themselves to a single destination but explore multiple locations.
For instance, a tourist visiting Bali might not confine themselves to just Badung regency but explore other attractions in Denpasar city and Gianyar regency. This optimism stems from the belief that during this period, the movement of domestic tourists could indeed reach 200 million.
In a related survey, the Transportation Policy Agency (BKT) estimates the potential movement of people during the Christmas and New Year holidays to be around 107.63 million.
Budi Karya noted a significant increase of 143.65% in potential community movement compared to the previous year’s holiday season.
“Last year’s Christmas and New Year holidays predicted about 44.17 million movements, while this year, we predict 107.63 million movements,” stated Budi in an official release on Monday (20/11).
As the holiday season approaches, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) is actively preparing tourist destinations to ensure they are welcoming and enjoyable.
Sandi mentioned that Kemenparekraf has issued directives to the Heads of Tourism Offices nationwide. These instructions emphasize the need for the heads to make tourist destinations in their areas safe, comfortable, and enjoyable for domestic tourists.
“I want to emphasize this – safety, comfort, and enjoyment. We don’t want tourism activities to become overly burdensome, leading to overcapacity or undesirable accidents,” stressed Sandi.
Furthermore, Kemenparekraf is collaborating with various ministries, agencies, and businesses to introduce several promotions during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
