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)