Hotel Entrepreneur Calls Lockdown Discourse Makes Guests Worried, Occupancy Gets Ready For Nyungsep

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Surakarta stated that the recent spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in a number of areas, including Solo, was worrying for the hotel sector.

"Discussions such as 'lockdown' (temporary closure) are increasingly worrying for guests. This is indeed a bad time for hospitality," said Public Relations representative of PHRI Surakarta Sistho A Sreshtho on the sidelines of the vaccination program at The Alana Hotel and Conventions Solo, quoted from Antara, Tuesday 29 June.

According to the General Manager of The Alana Hotel and Conventions, it is feared that this condition will have an impact on decreasing hotel occupancy rates, which had improved during the easing of a number of regulations some time ago. He said that currently the average hotel occupancy rate in Soloraya is around 30-40 percent.

Therefore, his party considers the vaccination program to be one of the main assets in dealing with this situation. In addition, he said, the hotel and tourism sector will find it difficult to rise without the support of relevant partners, one of which is the government.

"In this case, government policies will have an impact on us, hospitality and tourism cannot run alone," he said.

He said that so far Solo and its surroundings have been a feeder market, while cities that contributed to occupancy were a number of big cities, including Jakarta and Surabaya.

"Cities that are contributing to the occupancy are currently also affected by COVID-19," he said.

As a result, according to him, many potential guests end up delaying their trips by canceling their bookings or rescheduling them.

"Almost all guests, both corporate (company) and family (family). The reason is, there are strict restrictions in the city," he said.

Meanwhile, related to the vaccinations participated by hotel staff, he hopes to increase the confidence of the guests so that it will have an impact on improving economic conditions, especially in the regions.

"We focus on preventing COVID-19, apart from the vaccine for the CHSE certificate, we have also completed it," he said.