Thought

5 Things That Could be Better on Indonesia Tourism Website

22 Aug ’14

So you read about my last post about a few reasons why you should visit Indonesia? Should you google it, you find a website called indonesia.travel — the official tourism board.

And then you start get lost…literally.

And you start wondering, “what am i doing here?”

….

Here’s some the quirk i found on the website. Come on, guys, you can do better than this!

1. Bad Typography

The font is pretty small, the character per line is too high, the line is too cramped. For me, it wont passed my readability test. How can people comfortably searching for information?

Why don’t you use a golden ratio typography calculator, it’s free on internet!

My RSS reader render your article pretty nice actually... — My RSS reader render your article pretty nice actually…

2. So-So Photograph

If you don’t have any great photos to represent Indonesia, you better not showing up any medicore ones. You just ruined the images of Indonesia. And some images missing too on certain pages.

3. Confusing layout and navigation

How about just using two columns like my blog here?

Try to click arrow above the ‘Activity’ menu, you will get many hidden pages that should be on the front page. It also has a contributor-travel-story feature. Good luck finding the way to post article there..

Detail like too much padding on menu and anchor text style differentiation also can be improved on future update.

4. Half hearted lonely planet

It’s looks like trying to be one. But the information is too brochure-like and not up to date.

I better off to lonely planet anyway..

5. Not mobile friendly

This is 2014 and the design is not responsive? Where on earth did you live, guys?

When we open the site via mobile browser, it will redirect to the mobile site, which is pretty slow and too many feature-cut from the main website.

—

This is just my opinion as a mere tourist. I love you guys so i have to write this.

What do you think?

30 COMMENTS

4 Reasons Why Indonesia Official Tourism Website Sucks | Blog 22 Aug ’14 at 17:20

[…] So you read about my last post about a few reasons why you should visit Indonesia? Should you google it, you find a website called indonesia.travel — the official tourism board. And then you start get lost…literally. And you start wondering, “what am i doing here?” …. Here’s some the quirk i found on the website. […] Lebih Lanjut […]

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5 Reasons Why Indonesia Official Tourism Website Sucks | Blog 22 Aug ’14 at 17:38

[…] So you read about my last post about a few reasons why you should visit Indonesia? Should you google it, you find a website called indonesia.travel — the official tourism board. And then you start get lost…literally. And you start wondering, “what am i doing here?” …. Here’s some the quirk i found on the website. […] Lebih Lanjut […]

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mawi wijna 22 Aug ’14 at 19:07

It seems that they didn’t have a strong development team that can produce good travel content and maybe their passion for producing such a good travel content isn’t enough.

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- wira 22 Aug ’14 at 20:47
  
  Hmmm it could be… :)
  
  Reply
toliq 22 Aug ’14 at 21:57

waw.. kini nulisnya dalam bahasa londo.. kereenn.. :D

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- wira 23 Aug ’14 at 05:33
  
  sorry i didn’t get what you said…. *dikeplak*
  
  Reply
Fahmi 22 Aug ’14 at 22:25

It is because they just build, and just let it as it be :) Sama kayak pemda jakarta beli transjakarta yang bagus terus dibiarin begitu saja. Biasanya kalaupun tampilan jelek, tapi kalau konten bagus orang nggak akan terlalu peduli. wiki travel misalnya :) btw itu web harganya berapa “M” yak? XD

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- wira 23 Aug ’14 at 05:34
  
  yeahhhh… in you opinion, does their content helpful?
  
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yudhi puspa tia 25 Aug ’14 at 10:43

ah sepakat. harusnya dibikin tender terbuka yah buat designer web dan fotografer kalo mw bikin2 beginian biar kesaring yg kreatif2 macem mas wira gini

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Ferzya 25 Aug ’14 at 12:55

Wiw. So shame our tourism ministry have poor quality to attract people by using website. They should hire you to give more constructive critique then become they consultant :D. Btw, I miss you! #yaelah #ditabok #gapapa #rapopo

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- wira 26 Aug ’14 at 04:26
  
  Aku dikangenin kak pelji!!!!! *pengsan*
  
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Indah Susanti 25 Aug ’14 at 17:34

You have good points. I gave up using indonesia.travel website as my travel source when visiting Indonesia. The public forum also does not work (what is the aim of having a public e-forum anyway if there is no active moderators to help providing answers to the potential visitors?). And too much information on the homepage – too many featured places..

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- wira 26 Aug ’14 at 04:27
  
  Yup, too many information. Actually it’s not featured places. The ‘featured-box’ is just their latest posts. The feature place is on the bottom.
  
  Reply
Mumun Indohoy 25 Aug ’14 at 20:46

Nice! Second English post and it’s a criticism towards the ministry (but pak…). I can’t agree with you more. Grr… I so wish things were less complicated in bureaucracy than it is now. Good on you Wira!

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- wira 26 Aug ’14 at 04:28
  
  Well…but…..
  
  ..let’s hope and pray then…
  
  Reply
Taufan Gio 25 Aug ’14 at 22:23

Semoga dibaca sama pihak yang bersangkutan dan segera dibenahi. Sayang atuh budget M-M-an kalo hasilnya begini doang ;)

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- wira 26 Aug ’14 at 04:29
  
  Mereka harusnya udah tahu, sih. Karena tahun lalu ada semacam ‘quiz’ untuk mereview website ini saat baru2 diluncurkan tahun 2012.
  
  Reply
Adie Riyanto 26 Aug ’14 at 07:37

Hahaha kapok kui dikuliti :D

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Olive B 26 Aug ’14 at 11:52

Kk Wiraaaaaaa, four thumbs up *ajak ikut kelas belajar fotonya kk ;)*

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Cakrawala 26 Aug ’14 at 18:26

OMG. Read that official tourism website is a nightmare for me. Unbelieveable.

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Baktiar 27 Aug ’14 at 08:31

Kalau aku memang terganggu sama kualitas fotonya yang bener2 tidak menjual untuk mengatakan Indonesia… shit, kurang apa foto bagus lokasi wisata di Indonesia…. mas Wira ikut jadi kontributor gih biar situs mereka jadi enak dibaca dan dilihat.

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arievrahman 27 Aug ’14 at 23:55

Sejak Wira masuk indtravel, indtravel berubah, mz.

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Iqbal Rois 30 Aug ’14 at 17:19

and it is not googleable.. :|

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@bangsaid 1 Sep ’14 at 20:53

Bandingin sama web negara tetangga yang so simple, responsif, dan auto detect sama bahasa langsung dari ip pengunjung. Udah gitu pilihan bahasanya juga seabrek hampir 5 benua tersedia.

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Matius Teguh Nugroho 2 Sep ’14 at 12:50

Yeah, our Indonesian travel bloggers have a better and more interesting web than the tourism ministry’s. Why didn’t they hire us? *eh*
Oh, and the website doesn’t provide a complete tourism objects of a region. I think their determination of a tourism object is narrow.

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Atre 2 Sep ’14 at 23:14

Wira nih, abis punya patjar, langsung sigap banget postingannya menginternasyenel. Ruarrr biasa!

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- wira 3 Sep ’14 at 11:06
  
  Kagak ada hubunganyaa keleessss :))
  
  Reply
Venny 18 Sep ’14 at 16:35

Ah, ternyata ada yang brpikiran hal yang sama dengan saya.. semoga Tuhan cepat2 membimbing mereka ke jalan yang benar…

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- wira 18 Sep ’14 at 16:53
  
  Ikut mengamini… :)
  
  Reply
Sepucuk Surat Untuk Menteri Pariwisata — Wira Nurmansyah 31 Dec ’14 at 14:39

[…] Bapak menteri yang terhormat, — kebetulan saya seorang travel blogger yang bapak undang di malem apresiasi lalu — bapak meluncurkan platform E-Tourism. Entah apa itu, tapi yang jelas website resmi pariwisata Indonesia sudah ada, dan sangat butuh pembenahan; karena menurut saya indonesia.travel punya potensi yang sangat besar. Saya pun menuliskan beberapa hal yang bisa diperbaiki di indonesia.travel. […]

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