Indonesia Sees Surge in High-end Overland Tours

The growing number of mid- to up-market overland tours in Indonesia are lighting up cities beyond Bali this year, assisted by growing tourism infrastructure in tertiary locales.

Umberto Cadamuro, COO of Pacto, said that while Thailand is posing strong competition in the volume-driven mass-market tier, Indonesia is coasting along in the overland and customised tours segment.

“European operators specialising in customised tours are doing very well, venturing off the beaten track, with Komodo taking the lion’s share (of visitors) together with a very much in-demand Kalimantan,” he shared.

Likewise, Destination Asia Indonesia’s managing director, Sediya Yasa, has also seen more travellers venture to Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and East and West Nusa Tenggara.

Demand for upmarket overland tours has been so strong that Santika Indonesia Hotels & Resorts’ general manager, corporate sales and marketing, Guido Adriano, stated: “We have seen our luxury collection’s performance in Bali growing better than the other brands in the group this year.”

More significantly, bookings are also picking up outside of Bali. “It is interesting to note that we have got business for our hotels in Tasikmalaya and Purwokerto (which is something new),” he commented.

Having witnessed a pickup in reservations from tour operators running overland tours, Guido said the company is optimistic that US and European demand for such programmes would continue strongly into 2014.

“We have signed a contract with (an overland operator) for stays in our hotels in Bandung, Jakarta, Jogjakarta, Malang and Bali. We have at the moment secured 10 groups for next year,” he revealed.

Ellies Halim, group director of sales and marketing for Jayakarta Hotels & Resorts, also said her hotel in Labuan Bajo has seen an increase in bookings, thanks to growing interest in Komodo. “Overland tour series feature our hotels in Bandung, Jakarta, Bali and Labuan Bajo, a destination which has been growing in popularity,” she said.

Although Java’s Tasikmalaya, Purwokerto and Malang are along the Java-Bali overland route, tour operators did not consider overnight stays at these destinations previously due to a lack of good accommodation options.

But with local hotel chains such as Santika, Harris Hotels and Archipelago International establishing properties in these destinations, not to mention Best Western’s recent entry into Malang and Accor’s Ibis impending Malang debut, the situation is changing.
-TTG Asia