Government ignores momentum to promote tourism
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) criticized the government on Tuesday for not taking advantage of the current relatively calm situation to start reviving the country's ailing tourist sector.
PHRI chairman Pontjo Sutowo said a recovery in tourism would greatly help many travel-related companies currently weighed down by large bad debts to overcome their problems.
"The tourist industry can recover much faster than other business sectors, but it needs government assistance to step up promotion overseas," he said.
Pontjo was referring to a number of tourism-related companies included on a list of large indebted companies issued recently by the Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA).
IBRA has taken over bad debts worth nearly Rp 200 trillion (US$28.5 billion) from banks which have been closed by the government or received bailout funds from the government.
The list covers 1,689 companies from almost all business areas in the country.
PHRI said at least 50 out of the 1,689 indebted companies were hotel owners or operators. The number of bad debtors could be much larger if businesses linked to tourism such as restaurant, yacht and other travel-related enterprises were included on the list.
IBRA has warned the 1,689 companies to come up with a concrete debt settlement program or face legal action.
Pontjo said the government could no longer use the current political situation as an excuse for not quickly reinstating the country's tourist sector.
"Don't use the so-called inconvenient political condition as an excuse for not being aggressive in promoting our tourist industry. In fact, the current situation is already very conducive for tourism promotion," he said.
He said the longer the government delayed the redevelopment of the country's tourist sector, the more difficult it would be for tourism-related companies to solve their bad-debt problems.
He added that debt rescheduling or restructuring programs alone would not be enough to settle the bad debts in the tourist industry.
According to Pontjo, bad debts owed by tourism-related businesses were estimated to account for 15 percent of all nonperforming loans.
He refused to name the hotel operators or owners which were included in IBRA's list, but said most of the hotels were located in Jakarta, Bali and Yogyakarta.
"Most of them are star-rated hotels," he added.
Some of PHRI's officials are hotel operators and owners and have their firms included in IBRA's list of debtors.
PHRI vice chairman Said Umar Husein's PT Permadani Khatulistiwa Nusantara, which owns the Regent Jakarta hotel, is included on the IBRA's list with debts amounting to Rp 1.16 trillion.
One of Pontjo's companies, PT Indobuildco, which partly owns the Jakarta Hilton International hotel, is also included on the list with outstanding loans of Rp 835 billion.
Other large debtors in the tourism-related sector include Hotel Denpasar Putra with Rp 71 billion in outstanding debts, Treva International Trading with Rp 61 billion, Sahid Bali Seaside with Rp 56 billion, Hotel Marbella Pengembang Int. with Rp 53 billion, PT Krakatau Lampung Tourism with Rp 46 billion and PT Hotel Anomsolo Saranatama with Rp 44 billion.(cst)