Tiket.com and Traveloka Experienced a Surge in Cancellations

The Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak affected the online travel agent (OTA) platform service provider, Tiket.com. They said sales for their international services fell 52% from January to February.

Yosi Marhayati, Senior Public Relations Executive, said that the decline in international sales has occurred since the coronavirus outbreak broke out in China. Whereas domestic sales are still normal

“Until now there has been a decline in international products, both flight products, and hotels,” he told Katadata.co.id, Friday (13/3).

Yosi explained that in addition to the coronavirus outbreak, the OTA sector’s sales trends were in the low season phase due to the beginning of the year. It’s just that after the government announced that two Indonesian citizens were positively affected by the coronavirus, service sales had plummeted.

“The community has limited travel activities,” Yosi said. But Yosi estimates that the spread of the corona has no effect on sales during the Eid holiday. He said the train ticket sales for 90 days before Eid was sold out.

“Maybe it’s also considering the (Lebaran) momentum once a year so it seems like customers are still enthusiastic to go home,” he said.

Meanwhile, Traveloka’s Head of Marketing Transport Andhini Putri said Traveloka could not yet estimate how much influence the coronavirus outbreak had on its business performance. “Our main focus is intensive coordination with related partners, including airlines and hotels,” he said, Friday (3/13).

The Company Prepared a Team to Overcome the Potential Surge of Cancellations

Yosi Marhayati, Senior Public Relations Executive Executive, said that the decline in sales figures both internationally and domestically due to the coronavirus was felt by the company in several business lines, including product attraction, car rental, and airplane tickets.

“For the sale of product attractions and car rentals, in addition to the corona outbreak, this decline is also likely due to the low season period in January and February [2020],” Yosi told Bisnis.com, Monday (2/3/2020).

The company also, he continued, prepared the entire customer service team and back-end support to anticipate the potential surge in flight cancellations, both coming from airlines and customers by maintaining the company’s customer care service level agreement (SLA) standards.

Tiket.com also states that it will continue to provide appeals and information to the public regarding travel as long as the coronavirus is still endemic.

Yosi added that he also supported the government’s program by providing support for the domestic tourism program as an alternative to public holidays.

The company also distributed health packs to the community containing masks and hand sanitizers, including at the Soekarno Hatta Airport T2 Airport Transfer booth, Soekarno Hatta T3 Airport Transfer booth, Lebak Bulus MRT Station and Senayan MRT Station.

Since February, Traveloka Has Been Preparing to Serve the Cancellation of Consumer Orders

In the Group Interview activity held at the Traveloka Office, Wednesday (02/26/2020), Traveloka said that now they continue to communicate with their partners such as hotels and airlines. This was conveyed by Head of Marketing-Accommodation Traveloka, Shirley Lesmana.

“We do regular monitoring. We also work with various partners, with hotel friends,” he said. “We continue to contact with hotel partners and while helping what we can do (so that) has a positive impact,” he continued.

One of the aids Traveloka is doing is distributing masks to prevent consumers from contracting Corona. “We once distributed masks for free,” Traveloka Vice President of Market Management-Accommodation John Safenson said.

Furthermore, Shierley also explained that Traveloka has provided special services for consumers who want to cancel or change their booking schedules.

Previously, Chairman of the Indonesian Venture and Startup Capital Association (Amvesindo) Jefri R Sirait said, the coronavirus outbreak will affect the business of several startups including Tiket.com and Traveloka.

Some startup sectors affected by the coronavirus outbreak are logistics, leisure or entertainment service providers to transportation. “Always be vigilant and hopefully (investments) can run normally again,” he said.