Happy New Year 2026, as highlighted in the ASITA Outlook, Indonesia’s tourism sector enters the year with optimism, a more deliberate and structured direction. The emphasis has shifted away from growth at all costs toward quality, value, and long-term resilience. This reflects a broader national tourism vision that prioritizes sustainability, cultural integrity, and experience-led travel. In destinations such as Bali, where demand remains strong, the challenge is no longer attraction but management – how tourism is guided, curated, and sustained. Within this context, Bali & Beyond Travel Fair continues to serve as a strategic platform where direction meets practice and where the industry aligns around shared priorities.
ASITA (Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies) represents licensed travel agencies across Indonesia and plays a strategic role in safeguarding destination quality. Beyond facilitating access to markets, ASITA functions as a professional backbone for the tourism ecosystem – promoting legality, service standards, consumer protection, and responsible tourism practices. In an increasingly complex travel environment, this role is essential in ensuring that growth is guided by structure, coordination, and accountability rather than driven solely by volume.
A central insight from the ASITA Outlook is the continued relevance of professional travel agents in shaping quality tourism experiences. Travelers seeking meaningful journeys often rely on expert planning for convenience, safety, and well-curated itineraries – particularly when travel involves multiple elements such as culture, nature, wellness, and community engagement. Rather than being displaced by digital platforms, travel agents are increasingly positioned as experience architects. They connect travelers with licensed operators, trusted accommodations, certified guides, and responsibly managed destinations, ensuring journeys are both seamless and aligned with local realities.
Beyond coordination, the outlook emphasizes an often-underappreciated asset: local knowledge and storytelling. Authentic experiences are not defined solely by where travelers go, but by how places are interpreted and understood. Travel agents play a vital role in translating destinations through narrative – bringing context to landscapes, rituals, cuisine, and communities in ways automated booking tools cannot replicate. In Bali and beyond, this insight shapes experiences that feel personal and meaningful, transforming itineraries into deeper encounters with place.
The ASITA Outlook also acknowledges real challenges, including congestion in established areas, illegal tourism services, and uneven quality standards. It calls for stronger structure and a more balanced distribution of tourism flows toward emerging regions, alongside the development of wellness, village-based tourism, eco-tourism, and curated private travel. These segments depend heavily on professional planning, local insight, and coordinated collaboration to deliver experiences that are both responsible and resilient.
The ASITA Outlook reinforces a clear message for the year ahead: quality tourism depends on expertise, trust, and story. As the industry prepares for the next edition of BBTF, professional collaboration remains central to shaping a tourism future that is sustainable, meaningful, and grounded in place.
