Smaller hotels urged to avail use E-commerce

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Sanur, Bali

The rapid changes in the global tourism industry have left most small- and medium-sized hotels in Indonesia behind as they are not equipped for "E-Commerce", which has become one of the most popular methods of finding and booking hotels for international travelers.

"Most smaller hotels in Indonesia still have no access to the Internet/E-Commerce due to various handicaps, be they social, economic and technological," said Al Purwa, chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)'s Bali Chapter, on Wednesday.

"Without E-Commerce, we will be left behind by other countries in the Southeast Asian region," he said during a one-day workshop and fair on building E-Commerce awareness for hotels.

The event was organized by the International Finance Corporation, under its Program for Eastern Indonesia's Small and Medium Enterprise Assistance (IFC-PENSA), Australia Aid (AusAID), under its Bali Rehabilitation Fund and the Bali Tourism Board. The workshops are also held in Mataram (on Lombok), Sanur, Ubud and Singaraja on Bali.

"The workshops are aimed at helping smaller hotels to understand the potential of E-Commerce and how to attract customers via the Internet," said Evan Marshall, IFC-PENSA's Program Manager of the Denpasar-based Sustainable Supply Chain Linkages Program.

The workshops are expected to help hotel owners make strategic decisions on how to efficiently use the Internet as a sales tool. "In particular, it should help them target the independent traveler market," said Marshall.

Independent travelers are a lucrative target for hotels on Bali and Lombok. But only between 20 percent and 30 percent of the 1,300 hotels on Bali have access to the Internet, with most of those at four- and five-star hotels.

A recent survey by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed that almost 80 percent of travelers to the Mekong region (Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos) do not travel in groups.

Marshall said the workshops were designated as the first stage of E-Commerce programs for the local hotels.

"This is a way to inform hotel operators and owners on the potential of the Internet and E-Commerce," said Ida Adji, Business Development Analyst of IFC-PENSA.

The workshop's second stage would be an introduction to the international market, Marshall said. "We will establish close cooperation with Worldhotel-link.com, which is currently working to help small- and medium-sized hotels in the Mekong region."

World Hotel Link (WHL) is currently supporting e-marketplaces for smaller hotels and guest houses in developing countries.

Len Cordiner, CEO of the company, said they had developed a model in which WHL worked with local partners in the Mekong region. "The model, in operation for the last three years, has been successful."

The company provides participating hotel associations or local partners such as tour agencies or IT companies with a complete package to get their members online and selling rooms.

Each locally owned and operated e-marketplace is linked up to a global network of e-marketplaces and provides back office services by the WHL.

"Developing your own websites and portals will be very costly. By using this model, small hotels can join and work together with our local partners. Of all online-transactions, the participating hotels will only have to pay a commission to our partners," Cordiner said.