Tourists Flood Yogyakarta's Malioboro as Christmas and New Year Holiday Begins

8 hours ago 4

December 22, 2025 | 09:39 am

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tourists have started to flood the Malioboro area in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, at the beginning of the Christmas and New Year (Nataru) holiday on Sunday, December 21, 2025. According to Tempo's observation, the density in the heart of Yogyakarta has been visible since Saturday, December 20, 2025.

Although the New Year's moment is still about a week away, traffic jams have already colored several routes to Malioboro - the Zero Kilometer Point. The main parking areas (TKP) in the region such as TKP Ngabean, TKP Senopati (in front of Taman Pintar), Taman Budaya Yogyakarta (TBY) road to Malioboro II (south of Pasar Beringharjo) are full of vehicles with non-Yogya license plates, including tour buses and four-wheeled vehicles.

On Sunday afternoon, the density of vehicles and the influx of tourist groups using buses have increased. Several police officers from the Yogyakarta City resort redirected the traffic towards Malioboro - the Zero Kilometer Point, including on the Jalan RE Martadinata - KH Ahmad Dahlan road. Vehicles were diverted towards the south or to Jalan KH Wachid Hasyim.

Tourists can be seen crowding the area in front of Mal Malioboro, in front of Pasar Beringharjo, in front of Benteng Vredeburg, the hallway of the Zero Kilometer Point, and Taman Pintar.

"It feels so crowded for this year-end holiday in Jogja, maybe because some tourist spots like in Bali and others are flooded, so many chose to come here (Jogja)," said Maria, 42, a resident of West Jakarta who has been on vacation in Yogya since Friday, December 19, 2025.

The mother of one said that some of her relatives who initially planned to vacation in Bali at the end of this year also chose other options because they were worried about floods still occurring in that area. "My brother and his family chose to go to Puncak (Bogor) which is closer to Jakarta, some chose Yogya and Solo," she said.

Taman Pintar Extends Opening Hours

Karmila, Head of the Technical Implementation Unit for the Management of Taman Budaya at the Yogyakarta City Culture Office, the manager of Taman Pintar destination, said that during the Nataru holiday season, they have extended the operating hours longer than usual. The extension is to accommodate the potential increase in visitors during the Nataru holiday. If on normal days the operation is closed at 4:00 PM, during Nataru holiday it will be 4:30 PM.

"The extension of operating hours is also to anticipate late-coming tourists due to heavy traffic," she said.

Meanwhile, Agus Arif Nugroho, Head of the Yogyakarta City Transportation Agency, mentioned that based on the regional government's prediction, over 7 million tourists will visit Yogyakarta during the Nataru holiday season. The increase in the number of vehicles is unavoidable.

"The increase in the number of tourists will be linear with the number of vehicles entering Yogyakarta. The prediction is that 3.86 million of the incoming tourists will use private vehicles, and the rest will use public transportation," he said.

He revealed that there are several factors causing Yogyakarta to be filled with tourists. One of them is the operation of the Klaten - Prambanan Toll road which will boost the number of private vehicles entering via the land route.

Regarding the congestion-prone areas, Arif predicted that it will occur along the routes to tourist destinations. For example, areas such as Tugu, Malioboro, and Kraton (Gumaton) are expected to face high tourist attraction. "Because the Gumaton area is the most attractive for tourists," said Arif.

Read: Yogyakarta Expects 1.7 Million Tourists Over Christmas and New Year as Extreme Weather Looms

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