Hotel occupancy rates drop sharply

SEMARANG, Central Java: Hotels here have experienced a sharp drop in foreign patrons in recent days following a spate of riots that have rocked parts of the country, hoteliers said.

Graha Santika hotel spokesman Deiny Agung Moejantoro said yesterday the hotel had seen the nightly room occupancy rate drop from 50 percent to 27 percent.

According to Deiny, most of their foreign guests heeded instructions from their respective embassies to leave Indonesia due to the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the country.

Christiani Hartono of Ciputra Hotel's sales department reported a similar situation.

"We can not control them, it's their right to check out early. Most of the expatriates have been working with state-owned companies like Telkom and electric generator companies."

Both said many hotel guests were from Belgium, the Netherlands, the U.S., Sweden, Italy, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, India and Malaysia.

Towns near here such as Surakarta, Karanganyar, Boyolali, Sukoharjo and Sragen were hit by riots last week. The rioting prompted many tourists to cancel their room reservations, the hoteliers said. (har)