Hoteliers worry about declining tourist business

Hoteliers worry about declining tourist business

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As the tourism industry in the city is still battling the
negative impacts of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the
U.S., the industry is bracing for another difficult time in
business, following the emergence of anti-Israel and America
sentiments in the country.

Protests here in Jakarta against Israel's military offensives
against the Palestinians incites fears from hotel operators that
such protests may further scare away tourists, especially those
from North America and European countries.

"The growing concern over security may worsen the hotel
business," said Abdul Kohar, director of sales and marketing of
Horison Hotel and Raddin Ancol Hotel in Ancol, North Jakarta.

Abdul predicted that the hotel industry would not grow and
would remain in teetering condition.

Jakarta Tourism Office had earlier warned that the worsening
security in the capital could cause a decline by 10 percent of
foreign tourists' arrivals.

The current situation would surely confirm the prediction as
the anti-American sentiments came in time when Jakarta was
expecting more tourists from North America and Europe.

According to data at the Jakarta Tourism Office, the number of
tourists from European countries increased to 313,371 last year
from 192,222 in 2000, while American visitors slightly increased
to 60,585 from 59,349.

Overall, foreign tourist arrivals slightly declined to
1,187,385 last year from 1,187,776 the previous year.

Data at the Ministry of Tourism shows that around 5.15 million
foreign tourists visited Indonesia last year. It fell short of
the target of 5.4 million.

M.A. Hanifah, the head of market analysis center of the
Jakarta Tourism Office, revealed that the growing concern on
security might also cause suspension of many business activities,
and eventually reduce the number of visitors from other Asian
countries.

Citing his office data, Hanifah unveiled that 40 percent of
Asian tourists visiting Jakarta in the past few years were for
business affairs, and not for holidays.

Meanwhile, most tourists from United States and European
countries had holiday motives when visiting Jakarta, Hanifah
said.

However, five-starred Hotel Mulia Senayan revealed that thus
far the growing protest against Israel here had yet affected its
operation.

Ratna Sjamsiar Idris, Mulia's public relation manager, said
that no reports of cancellation from the hotel's booking
visitors.

"There is no impact of the rumor to the hotel operation though
80 percent of our visitors are expatriates," she said.

"Most of them have a long stay here, mainly for business
purposes," she said.

Nevertheless, she acknowledged that should the situation turn
to worse, this would surely affect hotel businesses.

The damaging impact of the security concerns in the capital
could actually be mitigated by the government's strong commitment
to uphold law and order and the hotels' improvement in services,
according to Abdul Kohar.

"We must deal with this problem, not only security problems
but also improving our services to tourists," he said in a media
gathering to announce the alliance between Horison Hotel and
Raddin Ancol Hotel.

Raddin and Horison Hotels are now under single management
following the acquisition of the later's majority stake by
Raddin's owner, publicly listed PT Jakarta Setiabudi
International in September last year.