Hotel occupancy drops by 10 percent<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The demand for rooms at international hotels in the capital has
\nslumped since the bombing at JW Marriott Hotel, Mega Kuningan
\nbusiness district, South Jakarta, last Tuesday. However, the
\nchairman of a hotel association expects that the situation will
\nimprove in the near future.<\/p>\n
George Benney, chairman of the Jakarta International Hotel
\nAssociation, told a media briefing on Monday that occupancy rates
\nat 28 international member hotels of the association had dropped
\nby 10 percent, from a previous 45 percent, after the bombing that
\nclaimed 11 lives and injured 148 others.<\/p>\n
\"There were also 2,500 room cancellations during the three-day
\nperiod after the blast. But that has now stopped and we estimate
\nthat new bookings are coming in,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Benney compared the Marriott bombing's impact to last year's
\nBali bombings in which 202 people, mostly Western holidaymakers,
\nwere killed while over 300 others were injured.<\/p>\n
After the Bali bombings, the hotel occupancy rate in Jakarta
\ndropped to around 25 percent. The blast almost caused the
\ncollapse of the hotel industry on the resort island.<\/p>\n
\"The occupancy rate in the short term will be negative but it
\nwon't be so bad,\" Benney said.<\/p>\n
Among the 28 members of the association are Hyatt, Starwood
\nHotels & Resorts Worldwide, Accor, Mandarin Oriental
\nInternational and also Marriott.<\/p>\n
Benney, the general manager of Mandarin Oriental hotel,
\nCentral Jakarta, said that his hotel had already recorded
\nbookings for September.<\/p>\n
\"It seems customers are not overreacting to the bombing.
\nPeople do understand that this is a global war on terrorism, not
\njust in Jakarta or Indonesia,\" he said, adding that his
\nassociation had talked to customers to measure their reactions
\nafter the blast.<\/p>\n
Benney said the association was \"a bit optimistic\" that the
\nsituation would improve, as hotels in Jakarta targeted mostly
\nbusiness travelers rather than tourists.<\/p>\n
\"They have to come to Jakarta anyway. Even if the CEOs, for
\nexample, declined to come, their managers would still need to
\ncome to do business with Indonesian companies,\" he argued.<\/p>\n
International hotels in Jakarta have pledged to put long-term
\nsecurity measures in place to fight terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
All member hotels have started to beef up security by having
\nonly one entrance, hiring more security guards and seeking advice
\nfrom professional security firms.<\/p>\n
However, Benney said, most hotels could only provide hand-held
\nmetal detectors. They could not provide security gates that can
\ndetect plastic explosives, as they cost US$60,000 each.<\/p>\n
However, he would not elaborate on additional spending by
\nhotels on improved security measures.<\/p>\n
Benney predicted that hotel occupancy would improve in late
\nAugust at the earliest, \"if the authorities manage to put in
\ntheir best efforts in fighting terrorism and we continue to
\nmaintain good communications with the police and the
\nauthorities.\"<\/p>\n
The tourism sector, which accounts for about 5 percent of the
\ncountry's gross domestic product, was just starting to recover
\nfrom last year's Bali bombings.<\/p>\n
Police have rounded up most of the perpetrators, allegedly
\nmembers of the shadowy Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group. One of
\nthe suspects, Amrozi, was sentenced to death last week.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hotel-occupancy-drops-by-10-percent-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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