Demand Increases, Travel App Download is Predicted to Soar in Ramadan

AppsFlyer’s research shows that digital-based travel services (Online Travel Agent or OTA) have been affected by the pandemic. However, startups in this sector are forecast to recover in this year’s Ramadan.

The company noted that the number of non-organic downloads or NOI in the travel application category decreased by 60% on an annual basis (year on year / yoy) during last year’s Ramadan. In fact, before the corona pandemic, the use of this service was increasing ahead of Eid.

In addition to falling downloads, travel app uninstallation jumped 60% in Ramadan last year. This means that many users choose to remove the tourism platform from their mobile phones.

“Last year was a dark period for travel applications. Income and the number of active users dropped,” said AppsFlyer SEA Senior Success Customer Manager Luthfi Anshari during a virtual press conference, Wednesday (7/4).

It happened as the result of restrictions during the pandemic. AppsFlyer estimates that tourism startups will rise in Ramadan this year. “The possibility of a rebound. He will return to the highest point related to NOI,” said Luthfi.

The reason is that people’s interest in traveling is increasing. “People already want to travel even though they have to test for the risk of Covid-19,” he said. APAC President and Managing Director Ronen Mense added, vaccination has a positive impact on the growth of travel applications. “We estimate that this industry will revive in 2021,” he said.

Last Year Travel Startup Affected by Pandemic

Over the past year, Indonesian travel startups such as Traveloka and Tiket.com have stated that they have been affected by the corona pandemic. Tiket.com, for example, recorded a 52% decrease in sales of international travel products during January and February 2020.

Meanwhile, Traveloka did not mention the decline in transactions due to the pandemic. However, management revealed that requests for assistance regarding refunds and rescheduling of airplane and hotel tickets increased 10 times at the start of the pandemic.

However, transactions started to improve at the end of last year. Previously, Traveloka President Caesar Indra said that business in Thailand was almost to the level before the corona pandemic. Traveloka’s business is stable in Vietnam because there are few positive daily cases of Covid-19.

“We plan to invest massively in fintech to get more consumers to travel in this region,” Indra said as quoted by Reuters, last February (25/2).

Traveloka Head of Corporate Communications Reza Amirul Juniarshah also said the number of daily users continued to increase 100% over the past year. “We also get funding. This reflects investors who continue to believe,” he said during a virtual press conference, last January (26/1).

Meanwhile, Tiket.com recorded an increase in hotel booking transactions during Christmas 2020 and New Year 2021. “Daily hotel booking transactions increased 118% compared to the week before the LOCAL OTW period,” said Tiket.com Public Relations Manager Sandra Darmo Sumarto, Last January (6/1).

Sandra assessed that the increase in hotel bookings shows that people want to vacation in the midst of the corona pandemic. Consumers also choose tourist destinations that are close to home to anticipate the risk of contracting Covid-19.

New Traveloka Head Office in Tangerang

Traveloka, officially introducing its new head office, Traveloka Campus, is located at BSD Green Office Park, BSD City, Tangerang Regency.

The choice of the new office building is in line with the company’s efforts to adapt to the green living lifestyle, given that the Traveloka Campus building has won the Gold Winner in the 2020 FIABCI Indonesia REI Excellence Awards and received Gold certification from the Green Building Council Indonesia.

Traveloka Campus is located in the BSD Green Office Park (GOP) area, the first office area in Indonesia to win the Green Mark District from the international institution Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Singapore.