Hotel business sluggish in Mataram

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara (JP): The hotel occupancy rate here has dropped to 25 percent over the past three months from a rate of 56 percent previously, an executive of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association said on Saturday.

Ahmad, head of the association's Mataram office, blamed the drop in business on inefficiencies in the West Nusa Tenggara administration.

"If the local administration aggressively lobbied overseas markets, we would not be faced with such a bad situation," Ahmad said.

The administration's data reveals that West Nusa Tenggara has 312 hotels, containing 5,238 rooms with 8,923 beds.

"Hoteliers have built the hotels with bank loans at interest rates as high as 38 percent," Ahmad said. (41/ylt)