Bali hotels unaffected by East Timor fallout: PHRI

JAKARTA (JP): The Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) said on Tuesday the fallout over East Timor had not affected Bali's tourist and travel-related sectors.

"PHRI Bali held a meeting last week and none of our members reported any cancellations in hotel reservations from Australian visitors," I Gde Wiratha, chairman of PHRI Bali said on the sidelines of the PHRI national meeting in Jakarta.

There were, however, several instances of temporary delays in reservations due to transportation problems caused by the Australian boycott of Garuda flights, he said.

Wiratha said he was optimistic that Bali's hotel occupancy rate would reach 90 percent later this year. He said the industry projected that many travelers would flock to the island to celebrate the onset of the next millennium.

"Bali has instead benefited from the recent unrest in other Indonesian cities, as many events in major cities such as Jakarta and Surabaya were moved to Bali," Wiratha said.

He said Australia contributed 27 percent of foreign visitors to Bali.

The Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture said earlier that in the first half of 1999 there had been 683,083 visitors to Bali.

Wirantha said in terms of spending, Australian visitors were only ranked number seven.

"We have been campaigning to inform foreign tourists that East Timor is quite far away from Bali, and that security in Bali is fully under control," he said.

In a related development, chairman of the Indonesian Guide Association I.G.K. Pujawan told Antara in Denpasar that hotels on the island had recorded some cancellations on the part of Australian visitors.

But he also said Bali would remain an attractive tourist destination for Australian visitors, despite the East Timor problem.

Pujawan was optimistic that the current cool relations between Australia and Indonesia would not adversely affect the Bali tourist industry.

Australian trade unions imposed a boycott on Indonesian goods last week as a protest against the Indonesian failure to restore peace in the troubled East Timor.

The angry protesters stormed the Garuda check-in at the neighboring country's major airports, stopping passengers from boarding a flight to t Bali.

The boycott was lifted on Saturday after President B.J. Habibie made a decision to allow UN peacekeeping forces to enter East Timor.

The two-day PHRI national meeting which opened on Tuesday is discussing efforts to reinvigorate tourist-related businesses hit by the economic crisis.

PHRI chairman Pontjo Sutowo said the tourist industry, which contributed 10 percent of gross domestic product, had suffered as a result of the depressed economy.

"The political turmoil, which has left Indonesia prone to looting and riots has hurt tourism," he said, adding that the East Timor problem had further tarnished Indonesia's image.

PHRI reported a hotel occupancy rate of between 40 and 50 percent in the first half of 1999.

A recent PHRI report said that some hotels were offering generous discounts and rupiah rates for Indonesian nationals and KIMS (temporary resident permit) holders to woo guests.

Secretary-general of PHRI Rianto Nurhadi said the national meeting would also discuss ways to restructure the debt overhang of tourist-related companies.

The Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA) earlier said that at least 50 companies operating in tourist-related industries were included in the list of about 1,700 major debtors handled by the agency.

The Agency for Standardization and Certification of Indonesian tourist employee competence, which was established by PHRI and the Association of Indonesian Travel Agents, was launched at the opening ceremony of the meeting. (02)