Hyatt Int'l, ALatieF sign hotel agreement
Hyatt Int'l, ALatieF sign hotel agreement
JAKARTA (JP): ALatieF Corporation, a private firm founded by Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief, signed here yesterday an agreement with the U.S.-based Hyatt International on the management of a star-rated hotel in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi.
ALatieF's president, Usman Ja'far, said that construction of the US$80-million hotel, to be called Hyatt Regency, will start in the middle of 1996 and be completed in the following 24 months.
The 250-room hotel will be owned by PT Sulawesi Wisatanusakarya, an ALatieF subsidiary.
ALatief, which controls some 20 subsidiaries, currently has two hotels -- the three-star Ambhara Hotel in Jakarta and the four-star Timika Sheraton in Irian Jaya.
Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave, who witnessed the signing, said that hotel construction should use raw materials produced in the South Sulawesi province and the management was told to hire local employees.
Ujungpandang currently has six star-rated hotels, one of which is operated by Radisson, with a combined total of some 1,000 hotel rooms.
Governor of South Sulawesi Zainal B. Palaguna, who also witnessed the signing, said that his province recorded a steady increase in the number of foreign tourist arrivals, with a growth rate of about 15 percent per year.
The province saw some 200,000 foreign tourist arrivals in 1995. Some 4.3 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia last year.
"There are currently two foreign air carriers serving Ujungpandang, Malaysian Airlines and SilkAir from Singapore. I hope the government will license more international airlines to serve Ujungpandang en route to Bali, for instance," he said.
Meanwhile, Hyatt president Bernd Chorengel, who also attended yesterday's ceremony, said that his company planned to set up a subsidiary in Indonesia which will manage Hyatt hotels in the country.
"We will decide on the local company later this year. We don't know yet whether the planned subsidiary will include local partners or not," he said.
Southern Pacific of Australia and Choice of the United States have already set up Indonesia-based companies to manage their hotels in the country.
Joop said yesterday that Accor, Sheraton and Hilton have also formed subsidiaries in Indonesia.
The New York-based Hyatt is currently managing five hotels in Indonesia, including the Hyatt Regency in Surabaya, East Java; Grand Hyatt and Aryaduta in Jakarta; as well as Grand Hyatt and Bali Hyatt in Bali.
Hyatt's regional director for Indonesia, Peter Stettler, said that in addition to the planned hotel in Ujungpandang, his company would also operate other hotels in Yogyakarta, Bandung of West Java and Medan of North Sumatra within the next two years. (icn)