Hotel industry told to be more innovative

Hotel industry told to be more innovative

JAKARTA (JP): A property tycoon has challenged hoteliers and
restaurateurs to be more innovative in their services so that
they attract more foreign visitors in the coming era of free
trade in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"The trend of the tourist industry in the next few years will
shift to 'shopping tourism', so we have to offer something
different to foreign visitors so we can compete," businessman
Ciputra said yesterday in a seminar.

The seminar, which was held by the Indonesian Hotel and
Restaurant Association's Jakarta's branch, focused on the
challenges and opportunities of the hotel and restaurant
businesses in ASEAN's free trade era.

ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has agreed to
implement its ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement in 2003.

"Indonesian tourist-related businesspeople are not afraid in
facing AFTA. They are already strong. Constructing star-rated
hotels is easier now than 25 years ago. But how do we attract
people to come here?" Ciputra asked yesterday.

Hotels, he said, would be ideally located in the same building
or compound as shopping centers.

"The highest occupancy rates among star-rated hotels in
Jakarta are recorded by Hotel Ciputra and Grand Hyatt, both which
are connected to shopping centers."

According to Ciputra, establishing more shopping centers and
shop-lined streets close to hotels in the city would facilitate
the country's tourism industry.

The government has encouraged companies to set up shopping
centers on several streets in Jakarta, including Jl. Casablanca
in the Kuningan area, as on Orchard Road in Singapore, Champs
Elysees in Paris and Ginza in Tokyo.

Ciputra, who owns several star-rated hotels in Jakarta and
other big cities in Indonesia under the Ciputra and Horison
names, said that establishing more shopping facilities would also
be ideal in Medan of North Sumatra and Surabaya in East Java.

Indonesia saw the arrivals of 4.31 million foreign tourists in
1995, indicating an increase of 7 percent over 1994. Foreign
visitors last year brought in US$5.2 billion in foreign exchange,
up 9.4 percent from the previous year.

The government has targeted to net 11 million foreign
visitors, bringing in at least $15 billion in foreign exchange
revenue for the country in 2005.

Ciputra also advised restaurateurs to prepare more traditional
Indonesian menus.

"I believe Indonesian dishes can compete with foreign food
offered through license in Indonesia," he said.

He also urged domestic hotel management firms yesterday to
improve their performance in competing with overseas hotel chains
operating in Indonesia.

"Foreign hotel chains, most of which have no equity in the
hotels they manage, usually earned 3 percent from sales and 7.5
percent from gross operating profits of the hotels per year. We
expend about $14 billion per year for such franchising or
management services," he said.

There are currently over 45 overseas hotel chains operating in
Indonesia.

Ciputra said it was also important for the domestic hotel
chains to expand operations abroad by managing hotels or making
investments in projects there.

He said that one of his companies had expanded into Hanoi by
establishing a "new city" called CitraRaya worth $500 million, in
addition to running a Horison hotel in the Vietnamese city. (icn)