70,000 more hotel rooms projected by 2003
70,000 more hotel rooms projected by 2003
JAKARTA (JP): The government predicts that more than 70,000 additional star-rated hotel rooms will come on the market during the Seventh Five-year Development Plan (Repelita VII), raising the country's total number of hotel rooms to 332,881.
Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave said the projection was based on hotel investment plans approved by the Investment Coordinating Board and on the probability of the projects being realized.
"During the Repelita VII period, which will end in March 2004, we estimate that 99,790 additional hotel rooms will be established, including 70,770 star-rated and 29,790 non-star- rated hotel rooms," he told a seminar Wednesday.
He said that during the Sixth Five-year Development Plan period to end March 1999, 38,470 additional hotel rooms, including 24,510 star-rated and 13,960 non-star-rated rooms, would become available.
The government had set a target of 100,000 new hotel rooms for the development plan period, between April 1994 and March 1999.
There were 194,551 hotel rooms and 8,674 hotels in June this year. Of the hotels, 710 were star-rated containing 67,562 rooms, and 7,964 were non-star-rated containing 129,989 rooms. From January 1994 to June 1996, 836 new hotels containing 19,414 rooms came on the market.
Last year, 4.32 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia. They spent US$5.2 billion. The country expects to earn more than $6.57 billion this year from five million overseas visitors.
The government predicts that tourism will be the country's largest foreign exchange earner by 2005. It projects 11 million international tourists will arrive, spending at least $15 billion.
The proportion of foreign tourists staying at star-rated hotels here increased steadily from 81.19 percent in 1991 to 81.95 percent in 1992, to 82.19 percent in 1993 and to 88.15 percent in 1994.
Promotions
Joop said the government expected to collect Rp 1 billion ($427,000) next year from companies to pay for an overseas tourist campaign.
"Promotion is still the biggest weakness in developing the country's tourist industry. The main reason is that we don't have money to launch continuous promotions," he said.
"The Indonesia Tourism Promotion Board will soon sign cooperation agreements with five private associations to collect money for more intensive promotions."
He said the associations included those grouping duty-free shops, garment producers, fruit and retail businesses.
The tourist board's chairman, Tanri Abeng, said the associations would provide funds to pay for the board's promotion program.
The board's budget for overseas tourist promotions is strained. The board owed Rp 21.98 billion last year to advertising agencies and other parties for its promotions.
The board, under a presidential decree, is supposed to receive two percent of the 10-percent local development tax imposed on hotels and restaurants in the provinces of North and West Sumatra, Jakarta, West, Central and East Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, North and South Sulawesi. Local administrations in the provinces are required to send two percent of their collections to the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, which passes the money on to the board.
The board received Rp 5.92 billion in the 1994/1995 fiscal year, far short of the government's target of Rp 55.99 billion. In 1995/1996, the board received Rp 1.22 billion of the government's targeted Rp 64.17 billion. (icn)