Agents selling Thai and Indonesian holidays are reporting strong year-end bookings despite recent natural disasters in both countries.
Sri Sutra Travel managing director, Syed Razif Al Yahya, expects a 20 percent increase in sales of Indonesian tour packages for the year-end period compared to the previous year.
He said demand for popular shopping and entertainment areas for the Malaysian market such as Bandung, Surabaya, Bali, Jakarta and Solo were not affected by the calamities in central Java and west Sumatra. He did not foresee any cancellations.
Mayflower Acme Tours senior general manager, Chan Meng Fatt, also said he expected at least a 20 percent increase over last year in outbound traffic to Indonesia, mainly to Bali.
He cited affordability of travel and close proximity as factors driving demand.
For travel to Thailand, Apple Vacations group managing director, Desmond Lee, said year-end bookings to unaffected areas such as Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Bangkok were holding strong, and there were no cancellations to date.
