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While many Jakartans have gradually gone back to spending weekends visiting their favorite malls, the overall visitation rate has yet to return to pre-pandemic times, one year after Indonesia reported its first COVID-19 cases.
Alphonsus Widjaja, chairman of Indonesian Shopping Centers Management Association (APPBI), said there has been no significant increase in the number of mall visitors.
“The visitation rate is still flat to this day, around 30 to 40 percent,” Alphonsus said yesterday, adding that the low number of visitors is due to implementation of various limitations set by the government.
However, Alphonsus said that visitation rates for malls outside of the capital are higher following more relaxed social restriction policies in their respective regions.
In mid-January, the association proposed an idea of carrying out COVID-19 vaccination at malls to the Indonesian government, in order to speed up distribution of the vaccine.
Jakarta is currently under the “micro” version of the Enforcement of Restrictions on Public Activities (PPKM) partial lockdown protocol until at least March 22. Under the protocol, malls are allowed to open until 9pm, two hours later than it was previously under stricter restrictions.
