BWJ lures hotel chain to join tourist projects
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)