Yogyakarta expects 500,000 tourists

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta | Sat, 12/27/2008 10:56 AM  

Thousands of visitors are making their way to Yogyakarta for their year-end vacation, evident from the full bookings at star-rated hotels and modest lodgings as well as from sold-out travel tickets. 

As a tourist destination, Yogyakarta offers many attractions, including culture, food and heritage as well as alternative excursions such as rural tourism. 

Malaysian tourists have even chosen the city as the best overseas tourist destination this year. 

A number of tour sites, including Prambanan Temple, the Yogyakarta Palace and Parangtritis beach have seen a surge in the number of visitors. 

In all, 500,000 visitors are expected to show up in Yogyakarta for some year-end vacationing. 

To bolster security, the Yogyakarta Police have mobilized 1,900 officers to patrol public places: houses of worship, hotels, malls, train stations, bus terminals, tourist resorts and entertainment locales. 

Star-rated hotels and cheap lodgings have been fully booked for the long year-end holidays, starting from Christmas. 

Data from the Yogyakarta chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association's (PHRI) shows 35 single-star to five-star hotels and 842 home stays and pensions provide the city with the capacity to put up 3,500 and 8,000 paying guests, respectively. 

"The hotels are ready to greet visitors, predominantly domestic tourists, for the New Year's celebrations," said PHRI chair Istidjab. 

Several hotels are advertising special menus for Christmas and New Year's and staging performances. Street festivals, fashion shows, live bands, dances and door prizes are all on offer. 

Istidjab said he was optimistic the holidays would help boost the local tourism industry. His association was sure the target of 7 million tourists this year could be achieved. 

Tourists to Yogyakarta so far have been tallied at 6.5 million before the final holiday spurt. 

To anticipate the surging number of passengers, state-run railway company PT Kereta Api has prepared an additional train, the Argo Lawu executive train to run between Surakarta and Jakarta. The train, with a seating capacity of 400 passengers, will run on four days, Dec. 28 and 29 and Jan. 3 and 4. 

"Ninety-five percent of tickets for the additional train are sold out and the queue is still long," the railways operational spokesperson Hartomo said Friday. 

Hartomo told The Jakarta Post Kereta Api would operate the additional trains because tickets for the 14 regular trains had sold out. 

The Adisucipto Airport in Yogyakarta also saw a surge in the number of passengers three days ahead of Christmas. It usually serves around 3,900 passengers, but the number had risen to 4,575 passengers during the same period, and is expected to further rise until early January next year. 

Most bus tickets to Yogyakarta are also sold out. Tickets for a number of executive-class buses plying the Jakarta-Yogya route have also been sold out since Dec. 22, and return tickets to Jakarta are expected to be sold out by early January.