Business in Jl. Jaksa suffer lack of customers
Business in Jl. Jaksa suffer lack of customers
Leo Wahyudi S and Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
Businesses in the budget tourist hub of Jl. Jaksa in Central
Jakarta, popular among foreign tourists and expatriates alike,
are continuing to feel the pinch almost two weeks after the Bali
bombing, with many reporting that less foreigners were
frequenting the area.
Interviewed separately by The Jakarta Post, owners of cafes
and hotels along the street said on Thursday that foreign
nationals still came to their establishments, albeit they were
few in number.
"We have had a drop in visits by up to 50 percent after the
bombing," said Iman, the owner of BFC Cafe.
"Our cafe is usually packed before afternoon, but now my cafe
is empty until late at night," he complained.
"We used to have some 100 foreign customers coming in daily,
while now there are only about 20 of them."
Imam said that before the bombing, there was an equal amount
of locals and foreigners making up the clientele, but now, most
visitors were Indonesians.
"The bombing has really destroyed our business here," he said.
Ruli Hernawanti of the nearby YaUdah Bistro also complained of
slow business.
"I can safely say that we have had a 20 percent drop in
foreign guests compared to the time before the bombing," she
said.
"The foreigners were unaffected by past cases of bombings in
the city. But it's different this time."
Ruli said her patrons were not scared by those bombings, such
as the one that rocked the Jakarta Stock Exchange in 2000 or the
incident at the Atrium shopping mall last year, as they were not
specifically aimed at tourists.
"The Bali bombing, on the other hand, was the first blast to
hit foreign tourists en masse," she said.
Ruli said that the decrease had also affected another company
under her supervision, Global Travel Service, which is next door
to the restaurant.
"A lot of foreign tourists usually book their trips through
the agency but now most of our customers are locals," she said.
Similar problems are also shared by budget hotels along the
narrow street.
"I must say that there has been a significant decrease after
the bombing. We usually have 10 foreigners staying here, but now
there are only two or three of them left," Max Maramis of Hotel
Djody said.
"The bombing affects not only my hotel but all the businesses
along Jl. Jaksa," she said.
Maramis said that many foreign tourists would usually walk the
street even in daylight, while now there were only a few of them.
Meanwhile, the area sales manager of the local beer brand, Bir
Bintang, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that business
had actually increased in the aftermath of the Oct. 12 bombing.
"On a whole, our beer sales have increased by some 10 percent.
I am curious. Perhaps the bombing has put people under huge
amounts of stress and they are drinking more," he said.
"We usually sell about 1,300 crates of beer a month to all the
drinking establishments along Jl. Jaksa, but now we've hit 1,500
crates," he said, while delivering beer to one of the cafes on
the street.