Charging additional tourism fund fees on plane tickets has a negative impact

The additional costs to tourism funds that will be charged on air tickets are believed to be bad for the tourism industry.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

Visitors lining up at one of the travel agency booths participating in a travel exhibition at Mal Gandaria City, South Jakarta, on Friday (25/8/2023).

YOGYAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government is expected to postpone and properly review the plan to determine tourism funds as an additional fee on airplane tickets. Its implementation is believed to have an impact on the level of tourist arrivals and influence the economy in the tourism sector at a macro level.

Chairman of the Regional Leadership Body of the DIY Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association, Deddy Pranowo Eryono, said that the macro-scale economic impact referred to was a decrease in tourist visits due to increasingly expensive plane tickets. This will be felt by all groups in the tourism sector, from MSMEs, hotels, restaurants, to food stalls. All tourism actors are predicted to automatically experience a decline in turnover which may be considered drastic.

In this way, it is certain that it will also have a broad impact on the economy in various other sectors.

"If it is forced to be implemented, the burden of tourism fees as an additional cost in plane tickets will actually backfire, hitting the government itself," he said on Thursday (2/5/2024).

The additional cost burden in the airplane tickets, according to him, should not be discussed, should not be considered, because the tourism sector has not fully recovered. Post-pandemic until now, it still decreases the purchasing power and consumption level of the community.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Tourists take photos with the Dakota RI-001 aircraft at the Aceh Pavilion, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, East Jakarta, Saturday (13/4/2024).

Also read: Tourism Quotes Are Considered Harmful to Consumers and at Risk of Violating the Law

The tourism sector that has not yet recovered is seen from the hotel occupancy during last year's Eid holiday. If the hotel occupancy rate in DIY during the 2023 Eid holiday was 90-95 percent, this year it was only 80-85 percent. This condition is suspected to be a result of the election because there were many expenditures for campaign needs.

It gives the impression that the government is being a thug, a carpenter who is willing to force things, carrying out levies on the streets.

Acting Chairperson of the Regional Leadership Council of the Association of DIY Travel Companies, Edwin Ismedi Himna, emphasized that they reject the plan to designate tourism funds as an additional cost in flight tickets. If this plan is realized, it will automatically make ticket prices more expensive and the number of tourists using air transportation will decrease.

If that happens, it will have a negative impact on the business development of travel companies.

"However, after the pandemic and the spike in airplane ticket prices, we have suffered losses because the number of tourists, our service users, has decreased by more than 50%," he said.

He believes that the plan to impose the additional fees is unfair if it is imposed on airplane tickets and is also borne by citizens who actually use air transportation services not for tourism purposes.

"The policy is truly unfair and ill-suited to be enforced because many people use airplanes for family travel or other emergency needs," he said.

Also read: Tourism Industry Rejects Discourse on Quoting Tourism Funds on Flight Tickets

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Foreign tourists visit the Kota Tua area, Jakarta, Sunday (13/11/2022).

The Chairman of the Magelang Regency Tourism Attraction Forum, Edwar Alfian, asserts a similar rejection. The plan to impose additional fees on plane tickets gives the impression that the government is acting like a thug.

"He arbitrarily takes advantage of the increase in airfare, giving the impression that the government is a thug, a bully who arbitrarily forces collection on the streets," he said.

If it turns out that additional costs are needed for tourism needs, Edwar said, the government should provide additional service facilities to obtain these additional funds. In Magelang Regency, for example, additional services that can be provided include transportation for tourism in the Borobudur area, which can be provided in the form of a shuttle bus or other vehicle.