Bukittinggi lures tourists

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang

In order to lure tourists back to their city, hotels and restaurants in the West Sumatra town of Bukittinggi are offering special discounts of up to 40 percent in May this year.

The Bukittinggi promotional program was devised in the face of declining number of tourists to the historic city following the Dec. 26 quake-triggered tsunami in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra, and another massive quake in the western coastal area of Sumatra in March, with Nias island being worst affected.

Chairman of Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) in Bukittinggi, Syafroni Falian, said during the launching on Saturday night that the program would be promoted at various tourism events, including a road show in Riau.

The discount program, he added, did not only involve hotels and restaurants, but also several travel agents, tour guides and souvenir shops in Bukittinggi.

"This is our effort to lure tourists back (to the city) after their number sharply declined following the quake and tsunami in Aceh and another massive quake which hit Nias," Syafroni said.

According to acting Bukittinggi mayor, O.S. Yerli Asir, the number of tourists had dropped 50 percent since the tsunami.

He said that the city usually hosted more than 1,000 foreign tourists a month, but since January this year this had reduced to only 300 per month. In April, he added, there were only 94 visiting foreign tourists.

The number of local tourists was also declining. He said that every month, the city was usually visited by 14,100 local tourists. But since January this year, only 2,800 local tourists came every month, and in April, only 2,126 visited the city.

Natural disasters have scared tourists away from West Sumatra, with many groups of foreign tourists canceling their visits following the earthquake and tsunami disasters.

The disasters have also impacted hotel occupancy rates in West Sumatra. Before the earthquake most hotels were close to fully booked during weekends.

Head of West Sumatra's tourism office, Yulrizal Baharin, earlier said that West Sumatra lost Rp 213 billion in potential revenue between January and March because of the disaster.

Last week in Padang, PHRI and the Association of Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies also launched the Minangkabau promotional program, where hotels, restaurants and travel bureaus in the city will offer discounts of up to 40 percent in an effort to bring back tourists to the city.