Bukittinggi lures tourists

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.