About Bandung , Indonesia

West Java, the one province in Indonesia that rich of the tourism objects that will interest you if you go there. There is one city that really famous in its fashion, that is Bandung. In this region, there is a place that is known as Lembang, the place with the fresh air and comfort place to stay. Lembang has many views in panorama that you must see if you have a chance to go there. Its fresh air and views become the things that interest many tourists to visit there. If you want to fresh your eyes, you can see many tea plantation every side of the road. To go there, you can ride your own car and follow the directions that will guide you.
If you want to go there, this article will guide you to see Lembang Bandung and its tourism objects. There are some places that you can visit, such of them are:



1. Tangkuban Perahu
Tangkuban Perahu is a mountain name that is famous is West Java. You can reach this place after Lembang or around 30 kilometers from Bandung. Here, you will be presented some of great views, like cauldron, mist, and the other views that can be enjoyed. If you want visit there, make sure you come during 7.00 am until 5.00 pm, because after that, this place is close. And you just pay around 13 thousand rupiahs as a ticket. Prepare yourself to bring the mask, because the sulfur smells is really strong. Don’t forget to bring jacket because the cold will enter into your bone. Just sit around there, your bad feelings will be gone, you can also complete your holiday with buy some souvenirs made from there.

2. De’ Ranch
This is the tourism object that always crowded by tourist, domestic even foreigner. You will see all of the ages enjoy spending their time here, from kids up to adults. Here, you will not be bored because you try to ride the horse like a cowboy in America. You can also try to do some outbound activities, for example flying fox, ATV, swimming, fun boat and so on. But, the favorite one activity here is act like a cowboy; you will be facilitated with cowboy clothes. When you ride your horse, you will pass the wide grass-field that is really interesting. After that, you can enjoy yourself with its various culinary, like siomay, karedok, mendoan, and so on.

3. Bosscha Observatory
For the travelers that love with the space things, this place can be a primary place to be visited. Bosscha observatory is a place where you can see all of the space things like stars, planets, and the others. Bosscha is the oldest place to stars observation in Indonesia. This place opens at 2 sections, for the first section, it opens at 9 am until 1 pm and the second one opens at 5 pm until 8 pm. You just need to pay the ticket around 7.500 rupiahs and 10.000 rupiahs for the second section visit. When you are inside, you will feel like you are an expert in astronomy. There are many big telescopes; one of them is the Zeiss telescope that will help you to see some of planets.

And not only that, West Java has been really famous for its natural beauty. In local language this area is called Parahyangan or the land of gods and no wonder since this region is blessed with beautiful landscapes. It is said that God was smiling when he created this land. The biggest city in this area is Bandung which also the administration and cultural center of the region. This city is known as Paris Van Java for a reason. The Dutch colonial era had huge roles created this city as extraordinary one. Surrounded with beautiful natural sceneries, this city is rich of amazing building with art deco styles built in colonial era. Since that time up until now, Bandung is widely recognized as one of the most popular tourism destination in Indonesia. If you are planning to visit this city, these are 8 must see places in greater Bandung area.

1. Ciwidey White Crater
It is undeniably the most popular natural spot in greater Bandung area. This natural wonder is located only 25 KM outside Bandung. The crater is a volcanic crater of ancient volcano. It has amazing white landscape. It won’t be difficult to reach the crater location. You can use public transport right from downtown or use your own vehicle, either car or motorcycle. Ciwidey White Crater is a perfect choice for those who love tracking because the route to the crater is quite challenging.

2. Curug Dago
Curug means waterfall in local Sundanese language and it is easy to guess that it is a natural waterfall. This ‘curug’ is hidden inside the Dago Hill on the Djuanda Forest City Park. The 12 meters high waterfall surrounded with lavish green environment is really eclectic scenery. Located near the downtown is one great factor why it is so popular. Curug Dago is also a historical site as there are two stone inscriptions dated back from 1811 M stated that two Thailand Kings visited the waterfall.

3. Djuanda Forest City Park
This is the forest in the middle of the city. Djuanda City Park is located surrounding Dago Hill. This forest park is a conservation area dated back since colonial era and up until today it becomes a center of the city.

4. Kampung Gajah
Although it is named Kampung Gajah or Elephant Kampong, you won’t find any elephant at this tourism site. Kampung Gajah is actually an amusement outdoor park. There are so many attractions offered there from horse riding to skyrider and lots more.

 

5. Trans Studio Bandung
The latest modern amusement park in Bandung built by Trans Group, it is the second of its kind after the first one in Makassar. As world class amusement park, it has many great attractions. You better scheduled full day time to visit Trans Studio.

6. Saung Angklung Udjo
The most trending destination today, Saung Angklung Udjo is the performance and workshop center of Angklung music, the traditional bamboo instrument. There are live performances and workshops offered for visitors there.

7. Ciwalk or Cihampelas Walk
Your visit to Banding won’t be perfect without shopping center and there’s no better place to shop than the legenday Cihampelas Street. Ciwalk is the icon of the street, the home of fashion boutiques and factory outlets as well as several culinary counters.

 

8. Jalan Dago

Dago is an area in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. It covers Jalan H. Juanda (H. Juanda Street) and the surrounding area. The lower (southern) Dago area near Jalan Merdeka is one of the trendy areas of Bandung, with shops, shopping malls, cafes, boutiques, and many restaurants and entertainment centers.

So, if you have a plan to go holiday, Bandung can be your one option to spend your holiday time. Hope this article also can be your guideline if you there. Feel its fresh air, and throw away your bad feelings, and you will feel your body happier than before.

Can Travel Agents Compete Against Online Travel Agent?

Nowadays it is very difficult and tough situation for the travel agent in terms of getting business and how to survive in the industry. There are so many challenges that they need to face it daily either internally or externally. As we know before this normally whenever we think want to go for holidays we will go and visit travel agent to seek their expertise by suggesting to us and advise where to visit, which destination have better promotion in term of the accommodation or air ticket. By doing this we at least have and idea where to visit, what is the interesting place to visit over there and is it the right time to travel.

 

At this moment travel agencies are being increasingly repressed from the tourism market by a new rival which is internet. Internet has experienced an incredible expansion for a very short period of time, becoming indispensable in almost all spheres of everyday and especially academic life, as well as in tourism. One "click" has become sufficient to take us virtually to any country in the world. Example to give us the insight into numerous offers of touristic destinations, attractions, transport, accommodation, food or other products within the destination.Actually with the current situation we can see the especially in travel industry the internet have taking over all the human element and become more and more redundant. For example when we travel by air, we have self check in and the ability to check in online so that you don't have the inconvenience of having to queue and then talk to a human being. Trains station have pre-booked tickets machines where we can pick up tickets we booked online without heading to a kiosk to collect it. The ticket ballards also take away the need for ticket inspectors on the platforms, and the trains themselves.

 

High street travel agents look set to become extinct because people more likely to book their holidays online. This should be a wakeup call for travel agents or tour operator. Online travel agents or OTA such as Expedia, Agoda, GTA, Booking.com have gained ground in tour sales and traditional travel agent and tour operators are going to need to improve their ability to compete. What they need to do is both agents and tour operators must add real value to the distribution chain to stay relevant.



It becomes a common practice for travellers to book vacations themselves. Normally those younger generation or Gen Y are more towards online bookings. They will read the review from  about the places that they want to visit even though there are advantages if you book with travel agent but people are still book using internet the accommodation and air tickets. 


Whereby the older generation are more prefer human touch, either face to face over a counter or over a phone. The older generation find the internet intimidating or too confusing, preferring a real person to handle their request or enquiry and make their purchase or booking. There is something reassuring about having a real person help you out, but it's becoming scarcer every passing year. 


As a conclusion even though most of the people nowdays are more towards online booking, there are still wide market of people who want to walk into travel agent office and discuss about the deals with travel agent staff who can talk them though hotels, resort and flights and give suggestion based on what you have discussed. You don't get this kind of service from online  booking system which it was built for speed and finding deals rather than interaction and making the booking of your holiday a fun and interesting experience in itself.
For next generations at least the travel agent will be needed to be the intermediate face of business. It will be sad day when the internet fully takes over and the travel agency is no longer required