In a statement issued on Thursday, the head of Pelni's Corporate Secretariat, Evan Eryanto, estimated that 27,388 people will return from the long holidays on January 7.
To anticipate a surge in return traffic, his party is reminding passengers to check ticket availability through ticket sale channels such as the Pelni mobile application, Pelni website, and ticket counters across the Pelni branch office network.
"The high number of passengers during the Christmas and New Year holidays makes the ferry tickets selling fast. Therefore, we remind passengers to buy tickets in advance. This situation is likely being used by middlemen to buy tickets and sell them at higher prices. We are monitoring this practice with law enforcement officials," he informed.
He said that during the long holiday period from December 11–27, 2023, a total of 336,730 people traveled on Pelni's ships.
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Meanwhile, on December 19, during the peak travel period before Christmas, 27,941 people used Pelni's services, he added.
Eryanto informed that Batam-Belawan was the busiest route during the period from December 11–27, serving 17,628 travelers. Other busy routes included Belawan-Batam (17,385 travelers), Makassar-Baubau (5,924 travelers), Jayapura-Biak (5,376 travelers), and Baubau-Makassar (5,144 travelers).
"We also recorded that the departure ports with the most passengers are spread in Makassar, Ambon, Batam, Belawan, and Jayapura. To ensure smoothness and security during the Christmas and New Year period, we always coordinate with port and passenger terminal managers," he added.
Earlier, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy, said that around 107 million people were expected to travel during this year's Christmas and New Year holidays.
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Translator: Benardy Ferdiansyah, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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