ISSUE ON INDONESIA VFR TOURISM – ‘MUDIK LEBARAN TOURISTS’

Abstract

The growth of domestic tourism in Indonesia is increasing and spectacular. The number of domestic tourists has beaten the number of international tourists. The main purpose of domestic tourists is Visiting Friends and Relatives and it is highly seen when the Indonesian people going back to their home town to celebrate holiday. As the country’s major religion is Moslem, the highly VFR flow is when the people celebrates Lebaran. The flow itself is called as Mudik Lebaran. This study investigates the nature of the Mudik Lebaran, the problems arise from the activities, and suggested problem solving. This study gathers secondary data and uses a qualitative analysis. The study finds out that the VFR tourists spend a significant amount of money, especially for transportation expenses. Transportation management has become the main issue in facilitating their needs. Road accidents become the main problem of the activity. Because of its huge quantity, it requires more attention and better management.

Keywords: Visiting, Friends, Relatives, Tourists, Tourism, Transportation

A. Introduction

Domestic tourism is an area which has a great role in economic development. It happens not only

in developed countries but in developing countries as well. Bigano et al in Eijgelaar E, et al

(2008) listed top ten countries that are significant in terms of domestic tourism; they include

USA, China, India, Brazil, UK, Indonesia, Poland, Germany, Canada and Japan. Eijgelaar E,also

argued that domestic tourism have often been overlooked and underestimated. Tourism only

discusses around the flow of international tourists only. Well in fact the contribution of domestic

tourist is more significant than international tourism. It is also said that domestic tourism is in

support to sustainable tourism practices because of the use of less air transport fuel.

In Indonesia, domestic tourism is incredible in numbers, the Indonesia Ministry of Tourism and

Creative Economy stated that the number of domestic tourists is increasing from year to year. It

is recorded that domestic trip increased from 195.77 million 2001 to 234 million in 2010. While

in the third quarter 2011, it is recorded that there are around 172 million people making trip

domestically.

In 2010, there were 122 million people doing domestic trip with total 234 trips and had generated

around Rp.150 trillion or about US$16 billion twice than the income generated from the

international tourist trip. It is also found that the purpose of visit for domestic tourist is mainly

Visiting Friends and Relatives which accounts 51% and the second is holiday/recreation which

accounts 27% of the population. While the mode widely used for domestic tourism are cars, bus

and others. Domestic tourism in Indonesia is huge and its impact to the economy is undoubted. A

similar case happens with Indonesia’s neighboring country Malaysia that has a significant

number in domestic tourism. Malaysia reported 137 million domestic trip made in 2010 which

accounts 115.5 million people and generated RM 34.7 trillion or US$11 billion.

Out of the domestic trips made, Yaziz (2007) mentioned Visiting Friends and Relatives seem to

be main purpose for domestic trip. VFR is however seems to be neglected the tourism industry

appears to conclude this segment is not economically significant as stated below:

1. They do not use commercial accommodation facilities. Presumably, they stay with their

friends and relatives and do not spend as much as other visitors for accommodation.

2. They do not spend as much as other types of visitors. Presumably, since they are staying

with their friends and relatives, they also spend less money on food and less time visiting

tourist attractions and other tourist facilities.

3. They are unaffected by tourism promotions. Presumably, they are mainly influenced to

visit the destination by their friends and relatives, and are unlikely to be affected by a

tourism agency's promotions. The assumption, therefore, is that it is not worthwhile for

an agency to invest in promotions specifically targeting VFR tourists.

VFR which is widely known in Indonesia is ‘Mudik’. Mudik is the phenomenon where people go

back to their home town during big holiday such as Christmas, Idul Fitr or Lebaran and Chinese

New Year. It normally deals with the movement of people in urban areas to village for some

period of time and return back. Mudik has become a tradition to Indonesian people and surely

other countries too. All classes of people whether rich or poor follow the tradition. As the largest

Moslem country with large population, the Mudik phenomenon is highly seen during Lebaran. In

this holiday, people go back to their home town to meet their families and relatives to celebrate

the holiday and to fulfill the religious needs; to extend close relationship and harmony. People

normally go back to their home town around before or after the Lebaran day. The peak season

would be seven days before and seven days after.

What seems to be the issue here is that Mudik Lebbaran involves with large number of people.

And the people will use and crowd the route and transportation, including private and public

transport. Whenever there are large numbers of people involved, there is a tendency of accidents

to happen. Indeed, Mudik is identical with transportation accidents.

In 2011, Lebaran day fell on 30th August which means that travelling will mostly high around the

period. The ministry of Transportation reported that during Mudik Lebaran period (7 days before

and 7 days after the day) that the number of users of public transportation increases. It is reported

that in 2011, there was an increase 2.58% of passengers using public transportation including air,

land and sea. In 2010, there was a total 13.3 million people and in 2011 there was a total of 14.6

million. The number of passengers using the sea transport increased 51.62% from 560,531 last

year to 849,901 in 2011. The number of land transport increased 1.58% from 5.164.862 to

5.246.400, and the air transport increased 15.99% from 2.389.659 to 2.771.737 in 2011. Ferry

service increased 3.28% from 2.941.779 to 3.038.309 people. Train passengers decreased

22.49% from 2.253.123 2010 to 1.746.488 people. It was also reported that the number of

accidents increased 44.61% from 2811 to 4065 and dead victims decreased by 7.5% from 722 to

668. The accidents happened mostly to private cars and motorcycles. They happened mostly

because of exhausted condition and indiscipline act of the riders. Condition of the road may have

also contributed to the accidents.

In this case, the safety of the domestic tourists is concerned and the public service providers have

a great deal in providing safety as tourists certainly would like to have a safe journey during

travelling. The study on VFR has brought attention to explore more on the nature of FVR

especially during Mudik Lebaran. In short, this paper is going to explain the characteristic of the

tourists, the suitable mode of transport, and strategies to improve transportation management

system in handling FVR Tourists during Mudik Lembaran. This study employs a library

research. It gathers and analyzes secondary data from various literature sources. The data are

taken from the statistical publications, journal, and articles. The result of the study presented

qualitatively and at the end comes up with a proposed conceptual framework.

B. Characteristic of VFR Mudik Lebaran Tourists

The VFR tourists movement from the city to the rural area is huge and the expenditure spent by

the VFR tourists also high. Purwakananta (2010) reported the expenditure from the VFR

‘Mudik’ activities reached up to Rp.84.9 trillion or around US$ 89 billion. The money is spent

for several things including transportation, food and beverage, accommodation, charity, and

investment. The 56 % went for components such as accommodation, leisure, and charity. The

rest 44% went for travelling expenses, including transportation motorcycle, cars, train, plain or

ship. The expenses went to big three components, transportation fare, fuel, and leisure. The

expense spent by the VFR tourists was around Rp.2 million.

C. Mode of Transport

It comes to the question on what is the safest mode of transport. UK authorities carried out

research to determine the most dangerous transportation method. The study presents fatality rates

and accidents affecting each mode. Statistics show the number of fatalities per billion travels. In

the case of bus transportation, the fatalities were 4.3. In the case of train transportation the

fatalities were 20, car travel produced 40 fatalities. Water transport resulted in 90 fatalities, air

transportation – in 117. The most serious fatality rate was registered in the case of motorcycle

transportation. Out of one billion travels, 1640 had a fatal outcome. According to these statistics,

the bus is much safer than the airplane. Risky behavior and high speed rank motorcycles as the

most dangerous mode of transportation.

Other reports claim that airplane transportation is the safest one. BBC published detailed features

about this mode. The main claim is that car accidents occur much more frequently than airplane

crashes. Yet, people remain skeptical and many are still afraid to fly. The chance of being in an

airplane crash is one in 11 million, while the chance of a car crash is one in 5000. It should be

noted that the statistics take into consideration major airlines, which meet all security standards.

The fatality rate is higher in the case of smaller airlines that use outdated equipment. Even the

US National Safety Council claims that being a pedestrian or a motorcycle rider is more

dangerous than traveling by plane. According to its report, even a bus ride happens to be more

dangerous than air transportation.

Based on the reports, it is stated that motorcycle is the most dangerous mode of transportation,

and that it will be more risky for the tourists who travel using the motorcycle for VFR. In fact the

number of motorcycle riders was quite high amounting more than 2 million people. Therefore,

there is a need to advocate using other form of transportation which is safer. In this case, mass

transportation such as train or plane can take place. However, consideration to comply with the

safety standard for public transport is required.

D. Strategies to improve transportation management system

A. Establishing a strategic national policy

Solving the problem of the transportation management system cannot be relied on the specific

authority only such as the law enforcement or the ministry of transportation. It is obvious that the

increase number of population will create demand for tourism, infrastructure including access

and mode of transport itself. Indeed, at one hand when there is demand there will be an

opportunity for business players to sell out their products. However, when the number has turned

to too many than it will give more pressure in management. During high season, such as the

Lebaran day, extra work is absolutely needed since the number of the people travelling doubles.

The current efforts taken to handle the situation are by increasing more officers on the streets to

monitor the situation, providing more information, security and health. Providing extra

transportation and repairing the infrastructure. These efforts seem not working very well as the

number of accidents is increasing as a matter of fact.

Controlling the population can be a good solution. Another possible thing to do is to develop and

distribute well fare to remote and rural areas. Central of economic needs to be developed in

eastern part of Indonesia as it is seen that most of travel movement goes around Java Island only

where the major population lives. And the pattern of VFR goes urban to rural areas. VFR is high

because there is high number of immigration to urban areas. Increased accidents are not merely

one sector problem and it will increase more unless a strategic national policy that will fix the

root of the problem. A comprehensive and strategic national policy should take place.

B. Provision of Mass Transportation

As most of the accidents are motorcycles and private cars. Providing other alternatives of

transportation that can take up more people such as the provision of trains and sea transportation

are recommended. Mass transportation is a better means of transportation compared to private

cars and motorcycles. It is more environmentally friendly than the other two. It can reduce

massive use of energy, decrease air pollution and traffic congestion. Provision of a strong public

transportation system is urgent. VFR involves mass tourists therefore it requires mass setting

transportation system. Australia Tourism Transport Forum (2010) mentioned that

1. Public transport plays an important role in minimizing the cost of congestion and maximizing

economic productivity.

2. Equality of access to employment and services, increased cohesion and decreased isolation

are significant social benefits that public transport investment can provide.

3. By providing an alternative means of travel to private vehicles, public transport has a critical

role to play in reducing carbon emissions.

4. Recognition of these benefits across various policy areas must form the basis of a

coordinated expansion of investment in public transport by all levels of government.

C. Increasing people’s awareness

Supriyono, S (2010) conducted a study on traffic accident analysis in Surakarta Java Island. It

was found out that one of the triggers traffic accident analysis was an in disciplinary actions of

the road users. Road users tend to disobey rules whenever there is an absence of the police.

Sutarno in Gattang (2011) stated that there were quite a high road accident rates during the holy

month of Ramadan. Most of the accidents happen because motorists ignore the traffic rules.

Sutanto (2009) also agreed that human error is still positioned as the highest factor for traffic

accidents, even for non-human factors, ignorance of trip makers to their vehicle maintenance as

well as to their traffic safety, knowledge are considered as human errors. Such ignorance can be

elaborated from the fact of lesser growth of driving license numbers compared to the explosive

growth in vehicle or motorbike units.

Looking from the studies, it shows that there is a need to increase people’s awareness on safe

driving on the street. Implementation of law and rules for the traffic needs to take place. The law

is implemented by Traffic Police and traffic is regulated by them. To that extent it is their

responsibility to regulate traffic dynamically and this is dependent on the availability of

resources for both human and equipments to get timely information on changes on the flow of

traffic at different points and continuously take preventive and corrective action. In addition,

education and information dissipation to society on the importance of road safety needs to be

considered. How well the road users are informed and educated is dependent on quality of the

road safety education imparted to the road users. Schools can put more emphasis in teaching

children about road usage and modes of traveling.

D. Service Management

In order to provide better service management, there are several things that need to consider.

Several studies mentioned some important aspects in public transportation (Sorupia:2005). They

include:

1. Safety (on vehicles and stops) includes not only safety from accidents but also passenger

safety from theft and physical violence, as well as vehicle safety from vandalism

2. Comfort embraces the physical comfort of the passenger within the vehicles and at stops

(ride quality adequate environmental controls, effectual seating, handholds, sufficient

entrances and exits with easy fare collection, package accommodation); the aesthetic

qualities of the system (clean and pleasingly designed vehicles, attractive stops,

terminals, guide ways, and other facilities); environmental protection of the community

(noise and exhaust emission); facilities for the handicapped; and pleasant and considerate,

and helpful operators.

3. Accessibility implies adequacy of rout distribution over the area served, vehicle capacity,

service frequency and operating time span, identification of stops and vehicles, and

distribution of information on fares, schedules, and the like, as well as case of fare paying

and well-placed stops and terminals.

4. Reliability depends on low breakdown rat, with special services provided when

breakdowns do occur, adherence to schedule, with adequate information about any

service charges, and guaranteed availability of transfer.

5. Coast means reasonable guaranteed fares with minimum zone fares (if any) and easy

transfer mechanism and possibility cost reduction for passes (weekly, daily and so on)

and special groups (students, children, senior citizens, and others). Cost should be

perceived as favorable compared to automobile use for the same trip

6. Efficiency includes high average of speed with minimum dwell times and the absence of

traffic delays, sufficient stops for minimum walking (but not as many as to increase

travel time), coordinated transfer point with minimum user discomfort, direct routing, and

express and special event and warranted. Efficiency also requires an easily maintained

system with adequate maintenance facilities, an efficient management system, and

minimal staff necessary to sustain service.

Considering the increasing number of victims during ‘Mudik’ Lebaran, safety of the tourists

should become the first priority. As another issue related to safety comes to thread of criminality

in terminal and station. In addition, the house which was left by the tourists should also create

opportunities for burglary. The practice of illegal ticket distribution should also need to consider.

And to provide an appropriate public transportation is the main responsibility of the government.

Therefore, government also needs to pay attention on the requirement of the service

management, especially concerning the safety of the tourists.

E. Conclusion

Tourism is complex. It cannot exist by itself. The growth of population and development as well

as they are managed has a great influence on the development of tourism. In Indonesia, which is

a country that has a significant number of population and areas have bred the growth of tourism

industry. The imbalance of development between urban and rural areas has brought massive

immigration rates. There is a spiritual need of the people to come home and meet their families

and relatives in celebrating holiday to after they have worked hard to earn living in urban areas

or big cities.

The growth of population has created enormous domestic tourists especially in VFR. The

number of domestic tourists actually has beaten the number of international tourists including the

expenditure. The economic income generated from the activities is so huge, although this has

been neglected in tourism study. VFR will create a strength to the country’s tourism and benefit

many tourism business industries especially transportation services. However, when it comes to

over populated and poor management system, it will become a boomerang to the industries and

government. Histories recorded that there is a need for improvement of transportation

management system to fulfill the needs of the tourists. Strategies such as creating a strategic

national policy, provision of better transportation system, raising the people’s awareness on road

safety as well as improving service public management.

Further research needs to be conducted to investigate more on the nature of the VFR in closer

look. Data such as tourists profile, expenditure, leisure activities during Mudik, accidents

number, hospital reports, and other things related to this kind of VFR needs to be investigated.

As it has become one critical aspect of the development of domestic tourism in Indonesia.

Lastly, it has been homework to solve for the government and industries for creating a better and

sustainable domestic tourism in the future and giving the tourists their rights to have a safety trip

especially for the internal domestic tourists.

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