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Tourism sector suffers $1.5 billion losses as Covid-19 hits hard
Almost all major restaurants and hotels in the country’s tourist destinations had now been hard hit by the sharp fall in the number of tourist arrivals, says PHRI.
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The chairman of Indonesia’s Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Hariyadi B. Sukamdani talks to the press on the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the tourism industry in Jakarta on Thursday. (JP/Riza Roidila Mufti)
T
he Indonesian tourism sector has suffered losses of at least US$1.5 billion since January as cancelations have hit the industry, especially hotels, amid growing fears over the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, an industry source has said.
Chairman of the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Hariyadi B. Sukamdani said that of the total estimated losses, about $1.1 billion occurred as a result of cancelations made by tourists from China and the remaining $400 million resulted from cancelations made by tourists from other countries.
“The losses are growing as people prefer to stay at home rather than going on vacation,” Hariyadi, who also chairs the Indonesia Employer’s Association (Apindo), said in Jakarta on Thursday.
He said that other related businesses such as the suppliers of hotels for their daily operations, which mostly comprise small- and medium-sized companies, had been badly affected. He feared that if the situation continued, such small businesses could be forced to shut down completely.
Hariyadi said almost all major restaurants and hotels in the country’s tourist destinations had now been hard hit by the sharp fall in the number of tourist arrivals. Unlike in the early days of the novel coronavirus outbreak, the cancelations only affected major tourist destinations such as Bali, Batam and Manado, which are popular with Chinese tourists.
The PHRI reported the country’s overall occupancy rate had fallen below the low season average of 50 to 60 percent to 30 to 40 percent since the outbreak of the coronavirus in China in early January. In Bali, the occupancy rate had dropped to 20 percent, especially in areas visited by individual travelers such as Kuta, Sanur, Legian, Ubud and Jimbaran.
“This is also made worse by growing fears over the virus and the government’s measures to restrict gatherings of many people. The restriction is contradictory to the government’s recent policy of providing financial incentives to promote tourism,” Hariyadi said.
