Increased visitor arrivals boost hotel occupancy rate

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite the issuance of travel warnings by several countries against Indonesia, the number of foreign tourists staying in star-rated hotels in the capital increased in the first semester, a property market analyst company said.

Property market consultant PT Procon Indah said in its reports that occupancy rates at three-, four- and five-star hotels in Jakarta increased by between 3 percent and 8 percent in the first six months ending June 30.

The report, revealed to the press on Thursday, shows that the occupancy rate at three-star hotels raised by 3 percent compared to the same period last year, while at four-star hotels it increased by 5 percent and five-star hotels by 3 percent.

Procon director Lini Fadjar said the raise was boosted by the increasing number of foreign tourists as reported by the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which recorded 1.3 million foreign arrivals in the first semester.

"The official record says foreign arrivals at the airport from January to May increased by 14.3 percent, of which 35 percent to 50 percent were tourists," she said at a media gathering on Thursday.

She said foreign arrivals, whether for leisure or business, chose to stay at four- and five-star hotels rather than at modest hotels.

Procon senior manager Arief N. Rahardjo said the increasing number of incoming foreign businesspeople to the city also boosted occupancy rates at star-rated hotels Jakarta's Central Business District (CBD).

"As the country's investment outlook has improved, more businesspeople come to the country, occupying most of the rooms at four- and five-star hotels in the city's CBD and along Jl. Gatot Subroto," he said.

According to the firm's data, some 8,000 rooms out of 22,292 rooms in 80 star-rated hotels are located in the CBD.

"Of the 8,000 rooms, 75 percent are in five-star hotels," he added.

But Arief also highlighted the increased number of star-rated hotel rooms, with an additional 333 rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Mega Kuningan and 94 at the Grand Flora in Kemang, both in South Jakarta, becoming available this year.

"The operation of the Ritz-Carlton (since May 9) partly contributed to the decreasing occupancy rate at five-star hotels to 48 percent from 50 percent in May and June," he said.

Overall, Procon officials concluded that the hotel market in Jakarta was still promising as the economy was improving, as was security.

"We anticipate some 1,000 additional rooms entering the market next year," Arief said, adding that the supply would come from star-rated hotels to be operated by international hotel chains.

The additional hotel rooms will come from Novotel Mangga Dua, Ritz-Carlton-SCBD (Sudirman Central Business District), Hotel Mega Anggrek and others, he said. (006)