Batam struggles to cope with plunge in tourist arrivals

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.