REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MERAK -- Nearly a thousand home-bound travelers on motorcycles, on Saturday, flocked the Merak port, Banten, waiting to be transferred by ferry to Bakauheni port, Sumatra Island.
The travelers had been arriving at the port since early morning. At the time of filing this report, long queues were forming at Merak port, according to Antara's observations.
The hometown of most of these travelers is Sumatra Island, but they work and live in Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi and Bogor areas.
"We have been here since early morning and hope to be transferred by the ferry soon," said Sangsang who wants to visit his hometown in North Lampung.
He, his wife and their infant child left Jakarta at 5.30 A.M. and reached Merak port at 9.00 A.M, Sangsang said.
He had been using his motorcycle to visit his hometown for the past three years because he wanted to save the money, Sangsang admitted.
Apart from that, using the motorcycle made it easier to find alternative roads and avoid traffic jams, he said.
There would be 20 thousand motorcycles that would be ferried from Merak port during this year's homecoming season, operating manager of state-owned ferry operator PT ASDP in Merak port, Nana Sutisna, predicted.
"We will try our best not to keep the drivers waiting at the port," Nana said.
The number of home-bound travelers during the Idul Fitri Holiday, 2014, is expected to reach 27 million, according to a forecast made by the Indonesian Transportation Ministry.
There will be around 27.894 million home-bound travelers this year, or an average increase of 6.99 percent as compared to last year, reported the results of a survey held by the Transportation Ministry?s Research and Development Department, released at the ministry's office in Jakarta on Monday, regarding the travel demand during the Idul Fitri Holiday, 2014.
"This survey was held in 12 provinces in Indonesia, which is the agglomeration area where most of the homebound travelers have migrated to," Head of the Transportation Ministry?s Research and Development Department, Elly Andriani Sinaga, stated.
The survey covered areas from the Java Island to Sulawesi Island, including North Sumatra, Lampung, Banten and Jakarta Capital City Region. It also covered West Java, Central Java, Special Areas of Yogyakarta and East Java apart from South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, and Bali.
The increase in the number of home-bound travelers based on the areas were forecast in Jakarta Capital City areas (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi) with an increase of 11.36 percent, Central Java areas (Kendal, Demak, Ungaran, Semarang and Purwodadi) 9.33 percent and Bandar Lampung 8.42 percent apart from Special Areas of Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta, Sleman and Bantul) 7.99 percent, and Sulawesi areas (Makassar, Maros, Sungguminasa and Takalar) 7.41 percent, Sinaga explained.
With a population of 72.912 million in 12 provinces, the average growth of the home-bound traveler was expected to reach 34 percent.
"With home-bound travelers expected to reach 13.418 million, Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi will have the highest number of such travelers in 2014," Sinaga pointed out.
East Java (Gresik, Bangkalan, Mojokerto and Surabaya, apart from Sidoarjo and Lamongan) is expected to be second with 4.226 million travelers, West Java (Bandung City, Bandung District, South Bandung District and Cimahi City) is expected to rank third with 3.434 million followed by Balikpapan and Samarinda (East Kalimantan) with 586 thousand.
Central Java will be the most visited destination during Idul Fitri 2014 with 7.991911 million home-bound travellers. It will receive 5.508 million travelers from Jakarta capital areas (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi).
The survey, which was conducted during March 7-31, 2014, employed the household interview method with 15 thousand respondents, of which 12 thousand respondents were from 2013 and three thousand people were new respondents.
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