Southern Pacific plans more hotels in RI

Southern Pacific plans more hotels in RI

JAKARTA (JP): PT Southern Pacific Indonesia (SPI), a
subsidiary of Australia's Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation
Group, will run a three-star Centra hotel owned by PT Graha
Chandra Buana, in Semarang, Central Java, this year.

Under a management agreement signed yesterday by SPI president
Nigel L. I. Harper and Graha Chandra president Ali Sukarahardja,
SPI will manage the hotel for 10 years.

Ali said his company had invested Rp 55 billion (US$22.8
million) for the three-star hotel which was scheduled to open in
August.

The new 166-room hotel is on Jl. Mataram, one of Semarang's
major business districts.

Semarang has several star-rated hotels, including Pertamina's
Patra Jasa, the Gramedia Group's Graha Santika and the Ciputra
Hotel, which is managed by Hong Kong's Swiss-bel Hotel.

International chains including Radisson and Holiday Inn also
plan to open hotels in Semarang.

Harper said Southern Pacific considered Indonesia a potential
market in Asia.

He said Southern Pacific which runs Parkroyal, Centra and
Travelodge hotels worldwide, will expand to Medan and Manado in
North Sumatra within the next few years.

SPI runs Travelodge Ancol in Jakarta and Sanur Travelodge in
Bali.

SPI, which is equally owned by Southern Pacific and a
subsidiary of Jan Darmadi Group, would open a Centra Hotel in
Wonosobo, Central Java, later this year and one in Surabaya, East
Java, next year, he said.

"We will upgrade the Travelodge Ancol and Sanur Travelodge
with more facilities and change their names to Parkroyal. We will
also open the Bulevar Parkroyal in Slipi, West Jakarta," he said.

Southern Pacific, established in 1958, operates 74 hotels with
12,930 rooms in 11 countries.

Harper said his company planned to run a 1,100 hotel rooms in
Indonesia by the end of the year. (icn)