BWJ lures hotel chain to join tourist projects

JAKARTA (JP): PT Banten West Java Tourism Development Corporation (BWJ) hopes to lure major hotel chains to take part in a massive tourism project in Banten, West Java, according to company president S.D. Darmono.

Mr Darmono said here yesterday PT Banten was eyeing several major foreign hotel chains such as the Grand Hyatt to operate and invest in hotels in the Tanjung Lesung Beach resort in the Southern part of Java's west coast.

"We plan to have four main hotels, ranging from three to five stars hotels in the site," Darmono told journalists. "Investors are guaranteed to break even within five years, due to the high flow of visitors to the west coast area," he added.

Accor Asia Pacific Group, which operates Sofitel, Novotel, and Ibis hotels, has already agreed to operate a four-star Novotel and a cottage hotel on the site, he said.

The cottage hotels would consist of 150 bungalows, 40 of which would commence operations in September, he said.

PT Banten, a consortium of 10 local and foreign companies, is developing an integrated tourist area on a 1,500 hectare plot at Tanjung Lesung, a beach about 140 kilometers west of Jakarta.

The area will include hotels, residences, and tourist attractions such as a marina, theme parks, golf courses, and a shopping area.

Darmono said new cottages would be sold to individual buyers this September who would then transfer management of the cottages to PT Banten.

Under Accor Asia's management, the cottages would be rented out, and the owners would be entitled to a 20 percent share of the hotel's profit every year.

"The cottage owners would receive their profit share after five years," he said.

Owners would be permitted to use their own cottages for a mere 24 days a year, he said.

He said Accor Asia would start the construction of Novotel next January. The new hotel was expected to start operations around August next year.

Darmono said PT Banten would invest a total of Rp 1.5 trillion (US$578.03 million) to build the area's infrastructure- including roads, facilities for electricity, water, waste and estate management.

He said the cottage hotel cost US$27 million to build.

The company expected the first phase of the project to be completed in 10 years, he said.

This included the construction of the infrastructure, the residential areas, hotels, theme parks, a 36-hole golf course, and a marina which could accommodate 300 yachts.

"We hope to transform this area into a tourist city eventually, and that could take as long as 100 years," he said.

He said the company aimed to accommodate around 25,000 people a day at the area, most of which would come from Jakarta. Foreign visitors could also come via sea on yachts and cruise ships, he said. (das)