Racial conflicts may hamper tourism recovery

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)