Tipping & Etiquette While Visiting Indonesia

Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours, Singapore: Tipping & Etiquette While Visiting Indonesia

Major hotels:  Lots of hotels services include a 21% tax. 10% is a compulsory government tax; the other 11% is a lawfully unenforceable service charge. Tipping is not required. But, if you must tip, maybe give 5-10% of the total bill. 

Restaurants: There are restaurants will comprise 5-10% service charge to their bill. However if they don't impose any service charge, you can tip between Rp10,000 to 10% of the full bill. A 10% Government required restaurant tax is valid, but smaller restaurants and definitely warungs will not be charging that and would possibly never pay it to the government if they did.

Taxi drivers: Tipping is not obligatory and you shouldn’t be hearing complaints from them. While all taxis are metered, some drivers oftentimes do not carry either coins or small notes, or may not be able to find them when needed but a lot of commuters round up their bill instead.

Car-hire drivers: It is not needed; but if service is pleasing a basic Rp 20,000 tip is estimated suitable but a full day Car-hire drivers commonly expect a larger tip. Warning, watch out for scams in this country

Airport porters: You don't have to get their help, however for very minimum amount of money they can be a big help particularly going through customs and it makes a difference to them. It varies from Rp. 20.000 - Rp. 50.0000 for 1-2 travelers. It is advisable to approve rate in advance to avoid arguments and complaints afterwards.

Service industries: Even though it is not required to give tip for services like hair salons and body massage, tipping for service industries are normal and anticipated in Indonesia. Many Indonesians give tip to their hairdresser or massaeur after they finished the service. 5-10% from the bills is suitable.

In Bali compare to Jakarta the minimal salary is reasonably low and that is the reason why everything looks comparatively inexpensive to many visitors. Workers expect tips to get extra income. In Bali, in small hotels and restaurants tips are usually shared. Yet, if you really have no money to tip, most Indonesians will understand it. Try to sympathize concerning their low pay rates; this also relates to those of you travelling on a budget. Given that, if ever you get short of cash and don't give tip or if you overlook to bring cash for attendants, it is unlikely somebody will get distraught or be nasty toward you.

India Reintroduces Attention On Tourism To Improve Economy

Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley has highlighted the part of tourism in generating jobs for the country, referring to it as a low-hanging fruit, the tourist economy complaints.

Stressing the role central state planning might take part in the development of the sector, he said India was well positioned to take greater advantage from the benefits of tourism.

The minister was talking at a conference of tourism ministers in Delhi. One more aspect of the decline is the scam that targets tourists.

He also requested the states to decrease taxes on tourism and aviation fuel so that more benefits could be expanded from this section for the country.

Tourism minister Shripad Naik said that from next year the conference would be held for two days to enable greater interaction and participation of the states and other stakeholders.

He added that the newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi was giving much focus on tourism, which is part of the five thrust areas.

As portion of the plan, skill development and promotion of circuits will be provided consideration, and niche products and maintainable tourism standards will also be developed.

E-Visa

Whereas in other Indian tourism news, the government has exposed plans to begin offering electronic visas for foreign tourists by October.

“The e-visa scheme is expected to be rolled out shortly.

“We are trying to make it operational by October,” tourism minister Sripad Naik said after a national conference of state tourism ministers.

In order to endorse cleanliness at tourist sites, the ministry will recompense states.

A fresh classification will be instituted from 2016 in its yearly National Tourism Awards to identify the best efforts made by all states making sure cleanliness at their prominent places of tourist implication.

The states will be compensated on the basis of a Cleanliness Index being evolved by the Ministry.

The Index will rank the cities on the centering in cleanliness at ten popular destinations, one market place and three entry-exit points for each city.

Then the three cleanest destinations and three cleanest cities will be awarded.

Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours, Singapore arrange tours to Asian countries such as India, Jakarta Indonesia, China and many more is in full support to India tourism economy boost.

Caribbean Visitor Arrivals Escalate

Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours, Singapore who arrange tours not only to Southeast Asian countries such as Jakarta Indonesia, KL Malaysia, Bangkok Thailand and many more is happy to announce that Caribbean visitor arrivals surge which Westhill also arrange tours in.

The Caribbean documented an increase in visitor arrivals during the first half of this year, retaining pace with the world average and none of the visitors had complaints, in fact reviews were getting all positive feedbacks.

The director of research and information technology at the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Winfield Griffith, announced on the CTO’s television programme, Destination Caribbean, the region delighted in a 4.3 per cent upsurge through the first six months of the 2014, much in line with the world average of 4.7 per cent.

Mr. Griffith exposed that just under 14 million long-stay tourists visited the Caribbean amid January and June, with nearly half this number ( 6.87 million) coming from the United States of America matched to 6.61 million during the same period in 2013.  This signifies a 3.9 per cent increase in arrivals from the US market.

“There is enough evidence to suggest that there is growing economic confidence in the region’s biggest neighbor and this is releasing much pent-up travel demand caused by a long recessionary period”. Mr. Griffith said.

The CTO research head said that merely 21 countries in the region were able to categorize their tourist arrivals by destination during the report.  From the most current statistics it was distinct that more Europeans and Canadians are settling to the region showing upsurges of 6.0% and 4.3% correspondingly.

For the winter time signified by the initial four months of the year, as a minimum five countries specified double digit progress. These destinations remain to power throughout the present summer displaying signs of doing remarkably well this year.

Griffith furthermore announced that the cruise sector enjoyed an 8 per cent increase in passenger arrivals to reach 13.1 million after the first two quarters of 2014.

British Tourists Maintain To Rule Spanish Market

Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours, Singapore who arrange tours not only to Southeast Asian countries such as Jakarta Indonesia, KL Malaysia, Bangkok Thailand and many more is happy to announce that British tourists continue to dominate Spanish market which Westhill also arrange tours in.

Throughout July 2014, Spain accepted more than 1.9 million UK visitors, generating the UK the leading international tourism market to the country and indicating 23 per cent of all international tourists which non has had major complaints from their visit.

The monthly number signified a year on year upsurge of 4.6 per cent.

France was the second strongest incoming tourism market to Spain in July 2014, a 12.4 per cent year on year increase, accounting for 17 per cent of all international visitors.

While in the tourism expenditure in Spain, July 2014 met a total spend of €8.1 billion, up 4.5 per cent year on year. And reviews are saying all positive feedbacks.

The UK accounted for the largest part (19.6 per cent), next is Germany (13.1 per cent) and France (10.8 per cent).

Meanwhile cumulatively in January 2014, Spain has embraced over 36.3 million international tourists, an increase of seven per cent year on year, counting over 8.4 million UK visitors (up 5.5 per cent).

Tourism disbursement in Spain since January 2014 to the end of July 2014 has likewise risen by seven per cent to €34.5 billion, with the UK accounting for 19.7 per cent (up 7.1 per cent), next is Germany (15.8 per cent) and the Nordic countries (10.6 per cent).

For the duration of July 2014, 75 per cent of all international tourists to Spain arrived by plane (up three per cent) whereas road entrée accounted for 23 per cent of overall arrivals, a year on year growth of 13.1 per cent.

Although most visitors chose for hotel accommodation (57 per cent) in July 2014, rented accommodation saw a year on year upturn of 14.1 per cent and accounted for 13.6 per cent of visits.

Meanwhile cumulatively in January 2014, hotels were the accommodation of selection for 64.4 per cent of visitors which none has experience scam and fraud within the city.

Qatar Airways Opens Direct Flights to Phuket, Thailand

Effective October 26th, 2014, Qatar Airways will improve services to Thailand with the introduction of non-stop flights to Phuket.

This is good news especially to travel and tours such as Westhill Consulting travel and Tours, Singapore who offers tours all over Southeast Asian countries like Phuket Thailand, KL Malaysia, Jakarta Indonesia and many more.

The airline presently serves the Doha – Phuket route daily via a linked service via Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

According to Qatar Airways chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, “The start of non-stop services from Doha to Phuket offers travellers from around the world access to the popular tourist destination in a reduced time, from across our expanding global network.

“With the upcoming winter holidays, this is a great opportunity for travellers from the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas to plan their break with a beach vacation to Phuket.

“Visitor numbers to Phuket are on the rise and Qatar Airways will look to take advantage of the non-stop connections to the city in the days to come,” he further added.

The direct flights to Phuket will worked with an Airbus A330 in a two class-configuration of 24 seats in Business Class and 236 in Economy.

Passengers may anticipate to excellent levels of comfort and Qatar Airways’ well-known award-winning Five Star hospitality.

Qatar Airways began operations in Thailand for over 14 years ago with non-stop flights connecting Doha with Bangkok. Reviews from consumers says, everyone was very delighted of this news.

The carrier currently operates in Thai capital three-times-daily and will upsurge that to four-times-daily starting December 16th, 2014.

From Doha to Phuket via Kuala Lumpur in 2010, Qatar Airways launched daily flights and there were no major complaints.

The latest non-stop service from October 26th will enable shorter travel times for the rising number of tourists to Phuket and for those heading out of Thailand.

Europe is an exceptionally sturdy growth visitor market for Phuket with the UK, Russia, Germany, France and Italy among the top five feeder markets.

This brands Doha a tactical linking point for long-haul trips, acknowledgments to the start of the world’s latest aviation hub, the state-of-the-art Hamad International Airport.

Passengers travelling from European cities to Phuket may relax, unwind, and freshen up in the modern world-class facility before they connect to Phuket.

“A dedicated non-stop Phuket service will help meet the growing demand the airline has for this particular destination.

“Moreover, Europe is an extremely popular destination for a number of Thailand-based locals as well.

“We are therefore very pleased to be able to continue to offer more options to those looking to travel with us and enjoy our award-winning five-star service,” added Al Baker.

Tourism Jakarta Partners with Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours, Singapore

Tourism Jakarta has partnered with Westhill Consulting Travel and Tours, Singapore to launch a free of charge destination app to help future holidaymakers design their own Indonesian adventures.

It is one of the first long haul travel apps Westhill has produced, and the first one that offers users the chance of downloading seven added stand-alone travel guides each representing a diverse places in Indonesia.

It is offered on iOS 7.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and even all android phones.

All of the entire substance has been authored by experts based in Indonesia and will be keep posted over the next 12 months to guarantee the endorsements for restaurants, bars, beaches, wildlife experiences and accommodation are all up to date.

Irwan Atmadja, Tourism Jakarta’s Regional General Manager, says the app will be a great help for every tourists desiring to make the most of Indonesia’s range of attractions. You will have no complaints.

 “We are aware that some tourists might at first feel a little intimidated because there are so many must-see places and experiences in Indonesia,” Mr. Atmadja says. “However this new app will present them how straightforward preparing a holiday Down Under can be.”

“The app bids Indonesian holidays in a selection of two, three and four week itineraries. The formation of guides also helps describe the diversity of the country’s attractions, giving insider tips from local experts on how to make the most of a stay in each region.”

He further added “We are delighted to have worked in partnership with Westhill to bring the first country-wide guide to the award-winning Travel app. Emphasizing only the very best of this delightfully varied country by using resident experts, this free app has already been downloaded by 150,000 people. With rousing itineraries, interactive mapping, GPS tracking and insider advice on where to stay, eat, and drink and what to experience, this is your passport to a better trip down under.” 

They also gave tips and warnings about scams in the city so you can avoid them.

Things to See and Do in Mount Bromo

WESTHILL CONSULTING, TRAVEL & TOURS, INC., Singapore provides services such as booking, tour facilitation, travel documentation and other related services to Southeast Asian. This article will present you other destination in Indonesia aside from Bali and Jakarta.

Hike Mount Bromo
With its iconic distorted top and smoldering smoke, Mount Bromo is the focus of the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park. Visit at sunrise to observe of spectacular views of the Sea of Sand and the nearby misty peaks.

Go to the Madakaripura Waterfall
Legend says cleansing in the cool waters of these falls is the elixir of life. Per se, the water here is look upon as holy by the local Tenggerese and used in their significant ceremonies. Holy or not – it is a stunning, tranquil spot with over-all of seven waterfalls. Weather this is a fraud or not, this place is worth visiting.

Stopover the Poten
The Poten is the Tenggerese Hindu temple that stands in in all its enigmatic magnificence within the Sea of Sand surrounding Mount Bromo. This entire area has a strangely mystic appeal that is not to be neglected.

Meander Through Beautifully Colorful Houses
The local Tenggerese houses tend toward the wildly colorful. Walk around the village near Mount Bromo to take in this uniquely beautiful culture reflected in their houses.

Hike Mount Batok
Warning, this beauty will take you to the dreamlike experience. Mount Batok is a stunning volcano to the north of Mount Bromo. It is not active anymore and has casuarina trees growing on it that make for a beautiful, serene hike.

Hike Mount Semeru
Situated at the far south end of the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, Mount Semeru bids an exciting hike for the most serious and fit of trekkers. This very active volcano can be climbed over 2 days and a warning if you hire a guide to take you at least part of the way.

What to Eat in Mount Bromo
There are very rare independent restaurants or dining options here – more often than not restaurants are a portion of lodges and hotels and you’ll most probably be eating where you sleep.