More Than Half of Indonesia's Population Projected to Return Home for Eid al-Fitr 2023: Trends Since Pre-Pandemic

A survey by the Ministry of Transportation through the Transportation Policy Agency (BKT) shows that the number of Indonesian people traveling during the 2023 Eid al-Fitr homecoming period is projected to reach 123.8 million people. This means that more than half of Indonesia's population will be going home for Eid this year.

The projection for the 2023 Eid al-Fitr homecoming is even 44.79% higher compared to the 2022 Eid al-Fitr homecoming projection of 85.5 million people.

The trend shows that the projected number of homecoming travelers in Indonesia has been increasing post-Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2019, before the pandemic, the Ministry of Transportation projected the number of homecoming travelers in Indonesia to reach 18.3 million people. Then, in the first year of the pandemic, the projection of Indonesians going home decreased drastically to only 297,000 people.

Then, the projected number of homecoming travelers in Indonesia gradually increased from 2021 to 2023, as shown in the graph above, along with the improvement in the control and transmission of the coronavirus in Indonesia.

Land transportation dominates the movement during this year's Eid al-Fitr homecoming. The majority of people are predicted to use private cars, totaling 27.32 million people or 22.07% of the total movement of people during the 2023 Eid al-Fitr homecoming.

Next, 25.13 million people (20.3%) will use motorcycles. This is followed by buses with 22.77 million people (18.39%), intercity trains with 14.47 million people (11.69%), and rental cars with 9.53 million people (7.7%).

The survey also shows that the movement of people is dominated by those from Java Island, totaling 77.3 million people or 62.5% of the total movement of people during the 2023 Eid al-Fitr homecoming.

President Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, urged regional governments and law enforcement officials to pay close attention to the issues surrounding the 2023 Eid al-Fitr homecoming in detail. According to him, detailed planning is needed considering the projected number of homecoming travelers this year has surged from last year.

"I ask the governors, regents, and mayors to really go down to the ground and look at the detailed problems so that they can be executed," said Jokowi, as quoted from Katadata.co.id, Tuesday (11/4/2023).

One of the preparations observed by Jokowi is the addition of rest areas on toll roads. According to him, the addition of rest areas is useful in reducing the burden on the main toll roads.