Retreat islands in Singapore's backyard<\/p>\n
Fadli
\nContributor
\nBatam<\/p>\n
The hotel business, including the resort hotels on Batam and
\nthe nearby island of Bintan, has been booming in the past three
\nyears despite a setback in the hotel industry in the other parts
\nof the country.<\/p>\n
While many hotels are struggling to survive amid the downfall
\nin the number of foreign tourists, the hotel industry on the two
\nislands is doing quite well.<\/p>\n
Batam, according to the local tourism office, has 43 star-
\nrated hotels to date, including three resort hotels, while
\nBintan, the newly developed tourist resort nearby, has seven
\nmodern resort hotels.<\/p>\n
The Sept. 11 terrorist against the United States caused a
\ngrowing concern over the safety of traveling, dealing a major
\nblow to most Indonesian tourist destinations.<\/p>\n
But the two islands, which are only about a 45-minute trip by
\nferry from Singapore, are almost immune to such security fears as
\nevidenced by the continued increase in the number of tourists.
\nFor Singaporeans and other members of the Association of South
\nEast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the two islands have become popular
\nretreat destinations.<\/p>\n
Although many executives of the local tourism-related
\ncompanies complain that the two islands still lack promotion, the
\nnumber of foreign tourists continues to increase from year to
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Last year, the number of foreign tourist arrivals reached 1.2
\nmillion, more than 20 percent of the total foreign tourist
\narrivals to Indonesia -- 5.15 million -- in the same year. Of the
\n1.2 million foreign tourists visiting Batam and Bintan, 60
\npercent came from Singapore.<\/p>\n
There are now three resort hotels on Batam, the country's
\nlargest industrial bonded zone. The resort hotels, Batam View
\nBeach Resort, Turi Beach Resort and Pura Jaya, have specialized
\ntheir operations to cater to tourists.<\/p>\n
Besides offering rooms and services of international
\nstandards, they also have recreation facilities such as jet
\nskiing, wind surfing, water skiing, canoeing and fishing readily
\navailable.<\/p>\n
"Batam View Beach also provides a sightseeing tour that we
\ncall the Kampong Tour. This facility is provided to guests who
\nwant to take a look at traditional villages near the island's
\ncoastal areas," the resort hotel's general manager Svein
\nMoldskred told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
According to him such a tour package is quite popular among
\nforeign tourists from Singapore, Korea, Japan and the United
\nStates.<\/p>\n
The resort hotels in Batam offer room rates of between Rp
\n400,000 (about US$45) to Rp 1 million per night for foreign
\ntourists. Indonesian visitors usually receive a special room
\nrate.<\/p>\n
The Chairman of the Batam Authority, Ismeth Abdullah, said
\nthat although Batam focuses on the development of industrial
\nfacilities, the tourism industry will be further promoted to take
\nadvantage of the growing tourist arrivals from neighboring
\nSingapore.<\/p>\n
Ismeth said that Batam has many attractive locations to visit
\nsuch as the nearby Vietnamese refugee camp, the Buddhist temple
\nMaha Viara Duta Maitreya, and a number of beautiful isles
\nsurrounding Batam and Bintan islands.<\/p>\n
"The development of new tourism facilities or renovation of
\nthe existing ones is one of our important programs," Ismeth said.<\/p>\n
Unlike Batam, Bintan island has been solely developed into a
\nretreat destination. Developed as tourist destination by the
\nIndonesian government in the early 1990s in cooperation with the
\nSingaporean government, the island has become an important
\ntourist resort for Asian tourists.<\/p>\n
Seven resort hotels with international standards have been
\nbuilt in Lagoi, a tourist complex covering 23,000 hectares in the
\ncoastal area of the island. They include Banyan Tree, Angsana,
\nNirwana Garden, Club Med, Bintan Lagun, Sedona and Mayang Sari,<\/p>\n
The relatively new tourist destination, which is located away
\nfrom local communities, is quite suitable for holiday makers. But
\nexecutives of the hotels in the area said that the place had not
\nyet been as popular as other tourist destinations in the country
\ndespite the high quality of services and facilities offered by
\nthe hotels.<\/p>\n
"Although we have facilities with international standards, the
\nbusiness is not as good as expected," Trizno Tarmoezi, the
\ndirector of human resources and corporate affairs of Banyan Tree,
\ntold The Post.<\/p>\n
With the beauty of the natural forests and beaches surrounding
\nit, the resort should have attracted more tourists, he said. "The
\nresort is not only beautiful but is also quite safe.
\nUnfortunately, due to the lack of promotion, not many people know
\nthe place," he added.<\/p>\n
Trizno said that most of tourists visiting the island were
\nSingaporeans who mostly came to the resort on weekends. "Only a
\nfew Indonesians visit the area," he added.<\/p>\n
The hotels, which offer room rates of between $200 to $300 per
\nnight, also provide a special tour packages which include trips
\nto small isles nearby or to Tanjung Pinang town, about 70
\nkilometers away.<\/p>\n
"The resort is especially good due to its safety and
\ncomfortable accommodation facilities," he said. "In Bali tourists
\nare often disturbed with the presence of aggressive street
\ntraders, but here in Bintan no one will disturb you," he added.<\/p>\n
Like his colleagues in Batam, Trizno also complained that
\nBintan island still lacked promotion. Most of the sales promotion
\nis done individually by the existing hotels and mostly through
\nthe internet.<\/p>\n
Robert Liar Lidrioux, the chairman of the tourism office of
\nthe Riau islands regency, said that the Lagoi tourist complex had
\nnot been fully developed.<\/p>\n
"Only 10 percent of the 23,000 hectares appropriated for the
\ntourist facilities have been used.<\/p>\n
The regency, which covers dozens of islands in Riau province
\nincluding Bintan, relies on the Lagoi tourist resort for its
\nfuture.<\/p>\n
At present, the tourist facilities in Bintan contributes
\nbetween Rp 4 billion and Rp 5 billion to the regency's total
\nrevenue.<\/p>",
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