TripTrus makes it easy to adventure in Indonesia on the cheap
Despite being a professional nerd during the week, I love a good outdoor adventure on the weekends. That’s why I’m excited about the emergence of adventure tourism startups like Gadventures and India’s Thrillophilia. Now, Indonesia is introducing a local player in the space called TripTrus.
The company describes “hunting the sunset at Sawarna, canoeing with the dolphins in Kiluan Bay, directly viewing a world class event like Jember Fashion Carnival, cave tubing in Gunung Kidul, diving in Tumbak Island-Minahasa, fun snorkeling in Derawan, to live on board on the waters of Komodo Islands” — all of which get my sense of adventure itching (well, except for the fashion show).
TripTrus’ online marketplace aims to make it easier for tourists to search for trip packages based on their leisure time, type of activity, destination, and budget. Before, TripTrus says vendors and operators posted their packages on forums, mailing lists, and social media, making them difficult for travelers to find. Instead, TripTrus offers simple CRM (customer relation management) for those trip operators to create trips, connect to social media, register participants online, send invoices, and more.
Since the beta-release in early July 2013, TripTrus recorded more than 225 trip packages promoted by more than 55 trip operators from various parts of Indonesia. It hopes to attract more domestic tourists in the future.
So how good is it?
TripTrus is head-and-shoulders above its English-language local predecessors like Adventure Indonesia, Indonesia Trekking, and Global Adventure Indonesia, which don’t use online booking, offer a more limited selection of packages, and are downright ugly. Global platform Gadventures’ listings for Indonesia tend to last from eight days to a full month (I wish I had that much time), whereas TripTrus has many more options for budget-minded weekend warriors like me.
On average, it looks like you’ll only spend a little over IDR 200,000 ($18) per day, which typically includes accommodation, a guide, transportation, and snacks. Each trip is rated according to difficulty: light, medium, journey, and extreme. Trip dates are predefined, which means you’ll have to take whatever is available on a given date. But if you’re open-minded about your adventure, TripTrus offers enough options for anyone to embark on a truly memorable vacation.
(Editing by Steven Millward)
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