General election may be boon for hotel industry

General election may be boon for hotel industry

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The country's hotels could experience an upswing in business this
year, not from tourists but from political parties booking
meeting rooms to make preparations for the 2004 general election,
an industry official said.

"The general election means political parties need rooms for
meetings as well as to spend a couple of nights preparing for the
campaign," the secretary-general of the Indonesian Hotel and
Restaurant Association (PHRI), Adnan Karamoy, said on Wednesday.

He predicted the meeting room occupancy rate would jump to
about 80 percent, as occurred during the 1999 elections. He did
not give the current occupancy rate for meeting rooms.

The country's hotels have suffered from declining tourist
arrivals since the Oct. 12 Bali bombings, which killed more than
200 people, mostly foreigner tourists.

Hotels on the popular resort island of Bali, for example, have
seen their occupancy rates plunge to single digits since the
bombings. The average occupancy in the industry last year was
about 50 percent.

The government has started massive promotion programs, both at
home and overseas, to revive the tourist industry. The PHRI is
coordinating its promotional activities with the government's
US$4.6 million campaign.

Adnan said that for the time being the association would focus
on local tourists and businesses rather than foreign visitors,
due to unfavorable conditions in the world travel industry.

"Considering the international circumstances, such as the
possibility of war in Iraq, all hotels will focus more on
domestic tourists," he said.

He added that the country's hotels would also place an
emphasis on corporate meetings, conferences and exhibitions.

PHRI is planning to advertise on local TV stations to
encourage Indonesians to travel more in the country.

The Office of the State Minister of Culture and Tourism has
projected that the number of domestic tourists this year will
reach 133.45 million people. It did not give the figure from
2002.

PHRI will also work closely with the police to ensure the
security of hotel guests.

"On March 22, 2003, PHRI is scheduled to sign a memorandum of
understanding with the National Police on a security operation to
support the national tourism program," Adnan said.