Spurred by the growth of Indonesia’s outbound travellers, local hotel brand Santika Hotels and Resorts has started to look beyond the country’s shores.
Cita Dewantoro, the company’s general manager corporate sales & marketing, said: “The growing number of Indonesian outbound travellers has attracted investors from overseas, (who want) to have their properties managed by an Indonesian hotel brand (in order) to capture the market.”
For instance, the hotel chain has been approached by investors from Malaysia and Japan.
Japan is the number one destination in Asia for Indonesian outbound travellers, thanks to the NTO’s aggressive promotions and the ease of entry into the country.
“They see that having an Indonesian brand that travellers are familiar with will attract the market,” Cita said. He added that the investors were interested in the four- and five-star brands.
Meanwhile, the investor from Malaysia was not only interested to bring the Santika hotel brands into the country, but also keen in developing human resources.
“We have a Santika Training Centre to train people from the frontliners up to management level. They want to send their local staff to train here before working in our properties,” he explained.
Farther afield, the strong Indonesian outbound market to Europe has also caught the attention of the country’s ambassador to Poland.
Cita shared that the ambassador has spoken to the company, and has asked it to consider expanding the brand in Europe given the growing outbound traffic there.
Expanding brands overseas has long been on the cards for Santika Hotels & Resorts.
“What we have in mind is to own and operate (hotels) overseas, not just manage properties. We are currently consolidating within the company and considering all these opportunities,” Cita concluded.
