The growth of Indonesia's digital economy is deemed a pivotal support for the national economy. Quoting data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia (Kemenparekraf), the country's digital economy growth is propelled by tech players, notably online travel companies, which have rapidly expanded post the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to the phenomenon of travel rebound. Currently, online travel penetration in Indonesia has reached 45%, projected to touch a total travel market of 12 billion by 2025. Kemenparekraf noted that in the first half of 2023, domestic tourist visits increased by 12.57% compared to 2022, while foreign tourist visits in July 2023 escalated by 196.85%. Additionally, the initially set target of 7.4 million foreign tourist visits for 2023 has been revised to 8.5 million, with the potential to rise to 14 million during the peak year-end holiday season. "The growing interest in tourism is reflected in tiket.com's performance. In the first half of 2023, there was a 20% increase in user transactions and a 40% rise in spending per customer compared to the same period in 2022," stated George Hendrata, the CEO of tiket.com, in a release received by Kompas.com.
George highlighted tiket.com's prominent programs offering stimuli to help people enjoy more economical vacations. This includes the BCA tiket.com Travel Fair held in September 2023, attended by over 4,500 visitors. The success of these programs shows the immense interest people have in traveling, especially to international destinations. George pointed out that during this period, Japan was the top-favored destination followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. He continued by noting the continuous attraction of tiket.com's Online Tiket Week (OTW) with its affordable prices. In the second OTW of 2023, there was a surge in new user transactions and daily transaction rates compared to the March 2023 OTW. This increase was notably seen in flight and accommodation bookings. George expressed that Bali and Medan were the favored domestic destinations, while internationally, the favorites were Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Japan. He concluded that these achievements highlight the immense and sustainable potential of the tourism sector. With the public's high enthusiasm and the burgeoning online travel trends, tiket.com is optimistic that the tourism sector will continue to significantly contribute to Indonesia's digital economic growth.
