Golden Truly expands into hotel business

Golden Truly expands into hotel business

JAKARTA (JP): Golden Truly, a major domestic retail chain,
will expand into hotel operations later next year to benefit from
the growing number of foreign tourists visiting the capital.

"We're confident that our hotel business will grow," the
president of Golden Truly Group, H.E. Dachlan, said at the
"topping out" ceremony of the 15-story hotel here yesterday.

The Golden hotel, as it will be called when it opens next
year, is located near the Jakarta International Trade Center in
the Kemayoran district, Central Jakarta. It will have 350 rooms
and a ballroom with a capacity of 1,200 people.

"Even though the hotel is designed to be a three-star
property, its facilities and amenities will be equal to those of
a four-star hotel," Dachlan said.

He said that the hotel business is promising due to the fact
that the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia has been
increasing steadily and because the government is wooing more
foreign visitors.

As of September this year, 2.6 million foreign tourists had
visited Indonesia for the year, spending an estimated US$3.1
billion.

Next year the number is expected to reach five million, with
total spending expected to reach $6.9 billion.

The government has targeted tourism to become a major earner
of foreign exchange by 2005. (13)