Business outlook in hotel industry remains promisings
Business outlook in hotel industry remains promisings
JAKARTA (JP): The hotel industry is expected to continue
booming in the coming years here despite the surge of new hotels
throughout the capital.
"Based on the rising number of tourists and the number of
hotel rooms available there is still potential for great demand,"
said Ign. Haryadi, the human resources director of the Santika
hotel group.
The record growth of tourism according to Haryadi is another
reason for this optimism.
The Jakarta branch of the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant
Association (PHRI) in a one-day seminar at the Dai-Ichi hotel in
Senen, Central Jakarta, yesterday revealed that last year a total
of 991,412 foreign tourists entered the city through Soekarno-
Hatta airport.
Based on PHRI statistics there are 10,438 rooms available in
64 star-rated hotels and 4,956 rooms in 153 melati(non-star)
class hotels in Jakarta.
The room occupancy rate in Jakarta last year averaged a
healthy 68.43 percent, far higher than the national average of
60.9 percent. Jakarta's five-star hotels had the highest room
occupancy rate with an average of nearly 75 percent.
I Gede Ardika, from the Ministry of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications, reaffirmed Haryadi's statement on the
strength of the industry, saying that the recession does not
altogether affect tourism.
He explained the changes in arriving tourists will be
relatively smaller budgets, shorter stays and a shift away from
luxurious accommodations.
During the current Sixth-Long Term Development Plan (Repelita
VI) which runs till 1998, foreign tourists are expected to stay
in Jakarta six to seven days on average and spend about US$200
per day.
This number does not include the estimated 8 million local
tourists visiting the city each year with an average daily
spending of between Rp 100,000 (US$46.3) and Rp 200,000 and with
a length of stay of between four and five days.
The attraction of the city is expected to receive a further
boost with Jakarta being dubbed a major "convention" city and
next week's commencement of the two-month Jakarta Shopping '94
which will boost the capital's role as a regional shopping
destination.
Human Resources
In opening yesterday's seminar, Jakarta's deputy-governor for
social welfare R.S. Museno, said that with the growth of tourism
it is deemed necessary not to neglect the importance of human
resources.
For that reason Museno called on hotel management to
continuously strive for the improvement and training of their
staff.
This matter was again raised by Boediman Kusika, the managing
director of Horison hotel, when he described the strategies for
improving his own staff and achieving a satisfactory service
record.
"They (hotel guests) do not see the product but they can feel
it...they can feel satisfied or not," he said.
Boediman also called on new hotels to stop the practice of
"head-hunting" trained staffers from their competitors. He
believes that a newly established hotel should develop and
nurture their own staff in order to gain the best results.
He pointed to the Rp 500 million annual budget his hotel
allocated for education and training, saying that it should not
be regarded as a cost but as an investment.(mds)