Yogyakarta hoteliers upbeat on recovery

Yogyakarta hoteliers upbeat on recovery

Israr Ardiansyah, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Most hotels in Yogyakarta have been suffering due to the drop
in the number of guests since daily anti-American protests by
radicals have prompted many tourists to choose other countries in
which to spend their holidays.

However, many of the hotel owners have expressed optimism and
demonstrated their determination to survive.

S. Guntur Tampubolon, General Manager of the five-star Hyatt
Regency Yogyakarta said here on Friday that his hotel is working
harder than ever to expand its promotion despite the drastic
decrease in business.

"We'll participate in an overseas travel convention in
November," he told The Jakarta Post who interviewed him in
conjunction with the hotel's fourth anniversary.

He reiterated that the industry was in shock, saying that this
situation is far worse than the hotel's original expectations

"We were eagerly awaiting a tourist boom in 2002 following the
success of the East Asian Inter-regional Tourism Forum (EATOF)
last month and the planned ASEAN Tourism Forum next January," he
added.

"Our monthly occupancy rates for July and August 2001 were the
best we ever had since our opening in 1997. But the heightened
tension in this country --due to the U.S.-Afghan crisis-- has
made our occupancy rate drop to 30 percent."

The 269-room hotel's occupancy rate was previously more than
60 percent on every Friday and Saturday.

Atik Wildan, Hyatt's public relations manager said the hotel
had prepared a book titled Jogja Calendar of Events 2002 that
will be launched in the near future and circulated overseas.

"By publishing the books, we want to show to the world that
Yogyakarta has also many interesting events beside its tourism
destination like Borobudur or Prambanan temples. The foreigners
should know this province is safe for tourists and hopefully will
always be safe," she said.

Records indicated that 78,414 overseas tourists visited the
Sultanate province last year.

According to Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, Japanese
tourists topped the list of 'Top Five tourism Market in
Yogyakarta' in 2000 with 10,286 visitors, followed by tourists
from the Netherlands (8,211), France (7,366), the USA (6,049),
and Australia (5,071).

"The Japanese tourists still come here but it's hard to get
tourists from those other four countries."