Tue, 25 Jan 2000

Racial conflicts may hamper tourism recovery

JAKARTA (JP): Racial and religious conflicts in some parts of the nation could drag down the recovery process of the country's ailing tourism, local hoteliers said on Monday.

Vice chairman of the Indonesian Association of Hotels and Restaurants, Feisol Hashim, said on Tuesday that if the conflicts could not be resolved soon, tourism could become worse than in 1998, when the industry fell into its worst crisis.

"The most valued asset in tourism is safety. Without a sense of security prevailing in tourist areas, it will be very hard for us to invite visitors to come here. They will not come even if we offer a drastic discount," he told The Jakarta Post.

A number of churches were burned recently in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, after demonstrators ran amok demanding the government to stop the killings in riot-torn Maluku.

Faisol said the religious clash in Mataram, located only 35 kilometers from Bali, Indonesia's most popular destination, totally damaged the country's image of tourism, which had just started to improve.

Indonesia's tourism saw an improvement last year after it was hit by a series of political chaos, with the number of foreign visitors rising to 3.94 million last year from 3.76 million in 1998.

The country expects to see between 5.2 million and six million tourists this year, which is almost equivalent to the level recorded before the crisis hit the industry.

Lombok is a potential tourist destination and often included as part of tourism promotions to Bali. Approximately 11,000 foreign tourists visited Lombok last year, up from 7,000 in 1998.

The religious clashes erupted in several areas of Lombok, including the capital city of Mataram, Ampenan and the tourist spot of Senggigi Beach, for several days starting Jan. 17.

Reports said calm returned to the areas on Monday as many businesses resumed activity.

Director of communications at Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort, Lisa Halim, said it was business as usual for hotels on Monday although they predicted only a few tourists would show up this week due to concerns over security on the island.

"The incidents are very much regretted ... We did an aggressive promotion last year to improve our business here," she said.

She said last week's incidents caused the hotel to lose many guests, resulting in a sharp drop in the room occupancy rate to about 20 percent from the hotel's average record of 57 percent in 1999.

General manager of the Oberoi Resort, Joseph Polito, said it would need some time for hotels to see more tourists return to the area.

"It's going to be a long, hard road for us this year. This (the incident) was very unfortunate ... inbound arrivals to Lombok were showing a constant growth lately," he said, adding that his hotel was forced to transfer most guests to Bali last week to avoid the violence.

He said the fact that some foreign governments issued travel warnings or bans from visiting Lombok for their citizens, would make it difficult for hotels in the area to see good business for a while.

Several foreign governments, including the United States, Great Britain and Switzerland, have strongly advised citizens to avoid travel to Lombok until the situation has returned to normal. The countries also advised their citizens who were staying in Lombok to leave the area as soon as possible.

Chairman of the Indonesian Inbound Tour Operators Club, Arievaldy Kumarga, affirmed Polito's concern, adding that local tour operators also advised their overseas travel agents not to send tourists to Lombok until at least the end of the month.

"Travel agents here must provide reliable information to our colleagues overseas. We can't cover up the situation and tell them that there is nothing happening here. So we told them the truth and recommended them to reschedule visits to Lombok," he said. (cst)