Business event players in Indonesia are heartened by the rapid pick up in incentive and corporate events this year, where observations include an increase in group sizes and the preference for new destinations.

When spoken to at the annual Indonesia Professional Organizer Summit (IPOS) Vol 8 Summit and Table Top, Trianto Sunarjati, director at Travel Help Indonesia, revealed that not only demand for incentive trips was high, but companies are also more confident in sending bigger groups.

His shared that his company has been constantly receiving enquires from insurance and banking companies, as well as law firms, with up to 600 participants per group.

“In 2022, the groups were smaller in size of between 50 to 150 people,” he observed.

Agreeing, Wienna Damanik, account director of Cakrawala Event Organizer shared that her company has already organised incentive trips from several manufacturing, banking, and pharmaceutical companies. Group sizes ranged from between 200 and 500 people, where their itineraries included meetings, teambuildings, and gala dinners.

“In June, November and December this year, we also have larger groups of up to 2,000 people travelling per month,” she added.

Evi Nur Hapsari, managing director at B.A.T Travel, has also observed that companies are looking for new destinations, where interest for places like Labuan Bajo and Lake Toba have soared, due to the government’s promotions. Her company has also received enquires for not-so-popular destinations like Likupang in North Sulawesi.

Destinations like Bali and Yogyakarta remain popular choices, but Evi has noticed companies asking for new activities – such as wearing traditional clothes and riding ox carts through a village in Yogyakarta – that can be experienced instead of a regular itinerary.

Held at The Sultan Hotel & Residence Jakarta earlier this month, the IPOS Vol 8 Summit and Table Top, a total of 366 potential events across 32 provinces in the country were recorded. Of this number, 39 per cent have been confirmed, with another 37 per cent most likely to happen, according to IPOS data.

The event brought 41 hoteliers and event suppliers together with 68 event organisers and tour operators from around the country.

Harry D Nugraha, founder of IPOS, shared that these numbers were a clear sign that the events industry was recovering, and “demand for corporate events has been rising steadily”.