Haze subsides in Jambi province, while hotel industry claims losses
Haze subsides in Jambi province, while hotel industry claims losses
Jon Afrizal, The Jakarta Post/Jambi
The haze that covered Jambi province for about a week has
subsided following rain on Sunday night, an official said on
Monday.
Clearer skies allowed flights to resume normally on Monday,
but the hotel industry stated on the same day that it had been
hit by the brunt of the haze problem, and that occupancy rates
had dropped within the past week.
The head of the Sultan Thaha Airport Management, M. Sidabutar,
said visibility had improved to about 2,000 meters on Monday,
well above the minimum visibility threshold of 1,500 meters for
pilots.
A week ago, visibility had dropped to an average of between
300 and 500 meters each day in the mornings and afternoons,
prompting the airport management to delay many flights.
The disrupted flights discouraged many tourists and
businesspeople from traveling to Jambi, and hotel occupancy rates
had consequently recorded a significant drop.
Vivi Anggraini, public relations officer at the Novotel Hotel
in Jambi, said its occupancy rate had dropped to an average 20
percent in a week, compared to the usual 80 percent of 124 rooms.
"Many guests canceled their hotel bookings because of flight
disruptions and because they feared they might suffer from haze-
related respiratory problems," said Vivi.
About 70 percent of the hotel's guests come from Jakarta on
business, while the remaining 30 percent come from Batam,
Singapore and Malaysia.
The haze had also forced the hotel to cancel a few events. "We
do hope that the haze problem will go away," said Vivi.
Aside from hotels, local residents found that the haze and
ensuing flight disruptions had also affected newspaper deliveries
in the province, with many national newspapers arriving late.
Marzuki, who lives in Jambi, said he received a national
newspaper a day late, so he relied on television to follow the
latest political and economic developments.
Haze has become an annual problem on Sumatra, where Jambi is
located, as well as Kalimantan, and is mostly attributed to the
slash-and-burn method of clearing land, which causes forest and
bush fires.
Various efforts have been made by the government, with the
help of those Southeast Asian countries affected by the haze, but
no solution has yet been found.