The Head of Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, has announced a significant shift in Indonesian consumer spending patterns, moving towards experience-based consumption. This trend is evident in increased expenditure on services such as transportation, dining at restaurants, hotel stays, and tourism-related travel.
“This indicates that Indonesian consumer habits are now more inclined towards acquiring experiences rather than purchasing material goods like clothing,” Amalia stated in Jakarta on Tuesday, May 27, 2026, as reported by Antara.
Amalia elaborated that this transformation is clearly reflected in the household consumption components for the first quarter of 2026. During this period, the highest growth was no longer driven by spending on apparel and footwear, but rather by the transportation, restaurant, and hotel sectors.
This evolving consumption pattern, she noted, was significantly boosted by increased public mobility during the Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr 1447 H period. BPS statistics show that the number of domestic tourist trips surged by 13.14 percent year-on-year in Q1-2026.
Amalia further clarified that domestic tourist data is meticulously calculated using mobile positioning data, gathered through collaborative efforts with three major telecommunication service providers: Telkomsel, XL, and Indosat. This innovative method accurately records people’s movements between regions while rigorously maintaining the confidentiality of individual identities.
“We measure domestic tourists not through surveys, but by analyzing their mobility as recorded by mobile positioning data,” she asserted.
Beyond shifting travel patterns, changes in consumption are also distinctly visible in the increasing digitalization of transactions across society. Amalia highlighted that e-commerce transactions, conducted through electronic systems, saw a robust annual growth of 27.8 percent, alongside a quarterly increase of 6.19 percent in Q1-2026. Concurrently, transactions utilizing the Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) experienced an astounding year-on-year surge of 111.94 percent.
According to Amalia, these transformative shifts in consumer and transaction patterns are inextricably linked to Indonesia’s evolving demographic structure, which is increasingly dominated by its younger generations. Data from the Inter-Censal Population Survey, released by BPS on May 5, 2026, reveals that millennials and Generation Z (Gen Z) collectively account for nearly 49 percent of the total population.
Including the post-Gen Z generation, those under 12 years old, who make up 19.65 percent, approximately 68 percent of Indonesia’s population belongs to the millennial, Gen Z, and post-Gen Z cohorts. “This demographic composition is precisely why our society’s consumption patterns have transformed, differing significantly from previous eras,” Amalia emphasized.
She stressed the critical importance for both businesses and policymakers to understand these changes, as consumer spending remains the primary driver of the domestic economy.
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Summary
Indonesian consumer spending patterns have significantly shifted towards experiences over material goods, as reported by the Head of Statistics Indonesia (BPS). This trend is evidenced by increased spending on services like transportation, dining, hotels, and tourism, particularly boosted by higher public mobility during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. BPS tracks domestic tourist trips using mobile positioning data from major telecommunication providers.
Further transformations in consumption include the digitalization of transactions, with e-commerce growing by 27.8% and QRIS transactions seeing an 111.94% year-on-year surge. These shifts are closely linked to Indonesia’s demographic structure, where millennials and Generation Z constitute nearly 49% of the population, driving these evolving consumption habits.