Hotels asked not to raise rates during air show
Hotels asked not to raise rates during air show
JAKARTA (JP): The government has called on star-rated hotels in the city not to raise their room rates during the Indonesian Air Show '96, which will be held on June 22 to June 30 this year.
Director of accommodation of the Directorate General of Tourism, Acep Hidayat, said yesterday that the image of the country's tourism will be hampered if hotels raise their room rates during the international event.
"Please, don't arrange the room rates as you like. You should also set everything well, like elevators, water supply and so on, especially for the hotels which are still preparing their grand openings," he told hoteliers after attending a ceremony for the signing of agreements between 26 hotels and the air show organizers for hospitality services.
He said the hotels should also compare room rates with hotels in other Southeast Asian countries.
Many tourism and travel executives in the country admit hotel room rates in Indonesia are the most expensive in Southeast Asia.
However, many hotels, both in developed and developing countries, increase their room rates during international events. In Germany and Colombia, for instance, several hotels raised their room rates during the Hanover Fair and the Non-Aligned Movement summit last year.
The 26 star-rated hotels, which signed agreements with the air show organizing committee, promised to provide special corporate rates during the period of June 22 to June 30.
Corporate rates
"Corporate rates are usually 25 percent or 30 percent lower than the published rates," said Sahid Jaya Hotel's manager A. Ferdy, who represented the 26 hotels in the signing ceremony.
He said that the 26 hotels, mostly the city's four-star and five-star properties, will offer between 3,000 and 5,000 rooms during the international event.
The air show, to be held at Terminal 3 of the Soekarno-Hatta airport, is organized by PT Produk Indonesia, a company set up to promote and organize Indonesian products.
Chief operating officer of the air show, Thareq K. Habibie, said here yesterday that the event would be the second air show to be held in Indonesia after the first one in 1986.
Thareq, who is a son of State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, said that some 2.5 million people visited the air show in 1986 and there will be more visitors in this year's air show.
President Soeharto is scheduled to open the event, which will be situated on a 130-hectare site.
About 600 exhibitors from the United States, Germany, Russia, France, Italy, Canada and other nations, are expected to take part in the show, which will include an aerobatics festival as well as a symposium on aeronautical science and technology. (icn)