According to Russian tour
operators, Indonesia, and Bali in particular, will not show any serious increase in
the tourist flow this season. Yet local authorities are more optimistic. Last year
the country was visited by 7.6 million people, out of which 62 thousand were tourists
from Russia.
By the end of this year the number of visits from Russia should hit the 100 thousand mark,
and the overall inbound flow is expected to be over 8 million people.
In the beginning of 2012
Indonesia
was actually loosing Russian tourists. During the first three months the tourist
flow from our country dropped by 9%. And at the end of 2011 operators had to introduce
some serious discounts on New Year tours due to many flights being empty. This year
there is much less air transportation available, Aeroflot for one left the destination,
helping operators escape price dumping. Sales numbers may differ from company to
company, but they are all lower than the expectations of Indonesian authorities.
According to Natalia Minorskaya, Head of the South-East Asia department at Vand
International Tour, the increase of the flow to Indonesia will be 20% at best: “Current
dates are selling in the last moment, which means bad sale depth. Yet the overall
situation is still fine”. In particular the expert said that some dates during the
New Year holidays are already sold out. Combined tours that start on January 2-3
are most popular. These also offer visiting neighboring countries like Singapore, Hong Kong or Malaysia in a single
trip. Popular tours inside the country combine beach resorts with excursions around
Indonesia.
Natalia Rotmistrova, Marketing
Manager of Solvex-Travel, says that demand on tours to Bali
with flights by Singapore Airlines has increased by 10-12%, compared to last year.
“Thanks to early bookings, we’ve already sold most of our New Year dates. There
are literally only a couple of tours left for December 28 and the first days of
January”, – said Mrs. Rotmistrova. According to her, tourists in January are mostly
looking for quality rest – 4-5* hotels. Also, tourists have taking a liking to a
new product – mini-cruises from Singapore
to Bali.
Other tours operators note
a decrease of the tourists flow. Anastasia Timoshenko, Head of the South-East Asia department at South Cross company, says: “If
we compare the numbers to last year, we’ll see that interest towards this destination
has dropped. There are fewer inquiries for New Year tours. Yet some dates like January
2 or 4 are already sold out”. According to her, part of the tourist flow has gone
to other parts of the region, mostly to Malaysia. “I doubt that it has anything
to do with pricing, because nothing has changed really since last year. It’s probably
just a trend”, – she noted. But she is sure the tourist flow will return to Bali very shortly. Mostly thanks to new luxury hotels being
opened on the island.