PHRI predicts gloomy year for tourism
PHRI predicts gloomy year for tourism
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian tourism may suffer again this year
from the political impact of the upcoming presidential election
in March, the chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant
Association (PHRI), Pontjo Sutowo, has said.
Uncertainty over the presidential election during the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) meeting in March might make
prospective tourists cancel or delay their trips to come here for
fear of social unrest, Pontjo said Thursday.
Members of MPR, mostly made up of members of the House of
Representatives, will elect a new president and approve the State
Policy Guidelines during the March meeting. The dominant Golkar
political faction said it would support the reelection of
Soeharto, which has ruled the country for three decades.
"Social unrest is the worse enemy of tourism," Pontjo said
after the association's breaking of the fast ceremony.
The economic turmoil which had hit several Asian countries,
dropping the value of their currencies, would also continue to
contribute to the dismal prospects of tourism, at least in the
first half of this year, he said.
Last year, the growth in the number of foreign tourist
arrivals fell to its lowest level in a decade due partly to the
haze problem, which blanketed most parts of Kalimantan and
Sumatra in the second half of last year, and sporadic riots ahead
of the general election in May.
Tourists from Asia made up 40 percent of all foreign tourist
arrivals, he said.
Pontjo said many star-rated hotels had suffered more from the
crisis than non-star hotels.
Star-rated hotels, which charged in U.S. dollars, had already
lost their domestic market, he said.
He did not say how far occupancy rates had dropped during the
monetary crisis, which has seen the rupiah's value fall 75
percent against the dollar.
However, non-star hotels have been benefiting from the crisis,
he said.
These hotels, which charged their customers in rupiah, had
grabbed the domestic market, he said.
Pontjo said the Indonesian hotel industry must adjust to the
economic turmoil in order to lure visitors from the region again.
"One way of doing it is by using the Asian currency basket,"
he said.
He said the exchange rate should be adjusted to the average of
the Asian currencies to the U.S. dollar.
The measure could be done with the cooperation of other
countries in the region, he said. The measure could use
instruments such as vouchers.
"If we do not adjust to the decrease (of arrivals) from Asian
countries, our market could be grabbed by other countries in the
region which are more competitive than us," he said.
He said the measure could make inter-Asian traveling similar
to domestic traveling.
"We can persuade Malaysians who cannot afford to go to London,
for example, to go to Indonesia instead," he said. (das)