Bali hotels unaffected by East Timor fallout: PHRI

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)