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)