Longer holiday boosts hotel occupancy in Bali

Longer holiday boosts hotel occupancy in Bali

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After posting a record-low occupancy rate in October, hotel
occupancy in Bali has apparently started to pick up again as one
industry player claimed that the latest figure was 40 percent for
the first week of December, thanks largely to a long-holiday
season.

Chairperson of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association
(PHRI) Yanti Sukamdani said since the holiday season would last
until after the New Year's celebration, there was still a good
chance for the occupancy rate to further go up.

"Hotel bookings have been on the rise since early this month,
and it tends to keep rising now that plenty of hotels have been
fully-booked ahead of Christmas and New Year celebrations," Yanti
told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

However, visitors and local businesspeople on the island
estimated that the occupancy rates were still extremely low.

Nonetheless, Yanti remained optimistic that the hotel
occupancy rate in the famous resort island would average around
60 percent for all of December.

The figures should provide a glimmer of hope that the Bali
tourism industry, hard hit by the deadly terrorists attacks on
Oct. 12, is on track toward recovery.

Prior to the blasts, Bali's hotel occupancy rates averaged
more than 70 percent.

The terror attacks on the island, which killed more than 200,
shattered the island's long-standing image as a safe haven for
travelers across the world.

Mass cancellations of hotel bookings and travel tours were on
the increase, sending the island's hotel occupancy rate to its
worst levels in decades.

In just two weeks after the tragedy, the occupancy rate on the
island dropped to single digits.

It reached 5 percent by the end of October.

This had initially signaled that tourism in the tropical
paradise was on the brink of collapse, which would be quite a
blow to the country's overall economy as Bali has been
Indonesia's main gate for foreign tourists.

Tourism has been one of the main non-oil-and-gas foreign
exchange earners for the country, second only to the textile and
garment industry.

The island lures around 1.5 million foreign tourists annually.

Last year, the tourism in Bali, with around 1,400 hotels and
almost 750 restaurants, generated some US$1.4 billion or more
than 25 percent of the nation's foreign exchange revenue from the
industry, which totaled $5.4 billion.

However, now that the occupancy rate was rapidly increasing,
Yanti was hopeful that the island would soon be able to bounce
back from its slump.

She attributed the current rise partly to the government
policy which allows longer holidays for locals throughout this
month.

"That has definitely helped Indonesian residents to have a
longer time off and better arrange their vacation plans," Yanti
added.

Just a few weeks ago, in an attempt to encourage domestic
tourism, especially to Bali, the government decreed a longer
period of office holidays for Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year
celebrations -- all occurring in December.

This ruling applies also for banks, private offices and other
business institutions.

And the plan seems to be fruitful for the moment, at least in
the case of Bali.

Meanwhile, AP quoted a flight booking company as saying that
cheap airfares were overwhelming terror jitters, with more people
booking holidays to Bali and throughout the Asian region this
year compared to last year.

The bombs were not scaring off all holiday-makers, said Don
Birch, president of Singapore-based Abacus International, a
leading computerized reservation system for the Asian region.

Instead, Bali had seen "an uptick" in flight bookings for the
2002 Christmas season compared with last year, thanks in part to
deeply discounted fares being offered by airlines, he said.

Birch said there was a 2 percent to 4 percent increase in
holiday travel throughout the Asian region compared to last year,
with fare cuts driving the mini boom.

"We are seeing price-focused travelers come out of the
woodwork," Birch said.

Singapore Airlines sold 11,000 seats to Bali in 10 days
following the announcement in November of a nearly half-price
round trip fare to the island, said Innes Willox, a spokesman for
the airline.