Batam struggles to cope with plunge in tourist arrivals

Fadli, Contributor, Batam

The quiet situation immediately turned lively when a group of 60 Singaporean tourists arrived at Hotel Novotel in the Kawasan Tanjung resort area on Batam last Saturday.

The hotel's managers, bellboys and receptionists could not hide their joy at the arrival of such a large group of tourists, which is now a rarity on this resort island.

Their arrival brought a ray of hope, not only for the Hotel Novotel Batam, but also for other star-rated hotels on Batam, which had almost all been empty following the spread of the deadly flu-like ailment Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the region two months ago.

Anas, the president director of PT Graha Seraya Pratama (GSP), which owns the Hotel Novotel Batam, said that the arrival of the Singaporean tourists was expected to be the starting point of the recovery of the tourism industry on the island.

For Hotel Novotel and dozens of other star-rated hotels on Batam and surrounding islands like Bintan, the industry that had slowed due to the Bali bombing last year had gotten worse and worse following the outbreak of the Iraq war and the spread of SARS.

Before the spread of the virus, the occupancy rate of Hotel Novotel Batam, which has 250 rooms, stood at over 60 percent. Since the outbreak of SARS, the average occupancy rate dropped to below 30 percent.

Singapore is the main gateway for foreign tourists visiting Batam, Bintan and other island resorts in Riau province. At least 1.2 million Singaporeans and other foreign tourists visited Batam and its surrounding islands last year, making it the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia after Bali.

The inclusion of Singapore in the list of SARS-affected countries issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) had dealt a major blow to tourism activities in Batam. Many hotels and other tourism-related businesses were forced to lay off some of their workers to enable them to keep afloat under the current harsh conditions.

The absence of a direct flight from Batam to other countries, a facility enjoyed by Bali and other tourist destinations in Indonesia, has caused Batam to rely heavily on Singapore as the source of its tourists.

Besides Singaporeans, tourists from other countries visited Batam, mostly as part of tour packages offered by Singapore-based travel agents. Singaporean agents usually include Batam and the Malaysian state of Johor in their tour packages in order to lure tourists to the city-state.

Local hoteliers warned that if the situation continued, there would be a major layoff not only in the hotel industry, but also in other related businesses, such as restaurants and travel agencies.

Diaz Yonadie, the general manager of Turi Beach Resort, said that his hotel's occupancy rate had fallen to less than 20 percent since the outbreak of SARS.

"The business is worsening and we don't know how long it will go on," he said, hoping that Singapore would soon be removed from the list of SARS-affected countries to help restore confidence in tourists to visit the islands.

Diaz said that local hotels, through the Batam Hospitality Association (BHA), should take concrete action to cope with the problem, particularly in related efforts to reduce Batam's reliance on Singapore for tourists. Establishing a direct link between Batam and other countries would be helpful in providing more options to foreign tourists to enter Batam, he said.

The plunge in the foreign tourist arrival also affected the operation of a number of major hotels on the resort island of Bintan.

Star-rated accommodations of the International Lagoi tourism resort on the island, such as Bintang Lagoon, Nirwana Resort, Angsana Resort and Spa, Club Med, Mana-mana Cabanas, Mayang Sari Beach Resort and Banyan Tree, are taking major consolidation measures to cope with the harsh impact of the sharp drop in arrivals.

Trisno Tarmoezi, head of the personnel department of Angsana Resort and Spa, said that the hotel's management had laid off 22 workers due to worsening business.

"Of the total 130 rooms, only an average of 13 rooms are occupied per day," he said. For the 190 workers who are still with the hotel, the low occupancy rate has also reduced their income. They rely on their basic salary of about Rp 800 a month.

Under normal conditions, they generally receive about Rp 2 million a month, most of which comes from service allowance.

The chairman of the Batam Industrial Development Agency (BIDA), Ismeth Abdullah, said that he was optimistic that the worldwide travel fear resulting from the spread of SARS would soon diminish in line with the proper handling and containment of the virus in affected countries.

"Although Batam is not affected, we have to remain alert about the possible of entry of SARS carriers," he said.