TOURISM stakeholders attending the Bandung Tourism Outlook 2013 seminar earlier this week were urged to rev up promotions and sales activities in domestic and regional markets to fill the ever-increasing number of hotel rooms in Bandung.
A bigger influx of domestic and regional visitors to West Java would help ease the hotel rate war already developing in the capital, said Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA) West Java Chapter chairman, Herman Muchtar.
At the moment, there are 98 star-rated hotels with 9,974 rooms and 229 non-star-rated properties with 5,500 rooms in Bandung, with overall occupancy ranging from 55 to 60 per cent, said Muchtar.
At least 17 more hotel projects are scheduled to open next year, which would potentially pour 2,000 rooms into the city’s inventory.
“A price war is already happening here and will continue if we do not do something,” he warned.
Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies West Java Chapter chairman, Herman Rukmanadi, suggested organising more roadshows across Indonesia and the region.
“The number of domestic and international arrivals to Bandung is increasing, but there are more out there to grab. Jakarta is our main market, but we have never done a roadshow in Jakarta. We should because we are competing with other domestic (destinations),” he said.
Rukmanadi also noted that while arrivals from Malaysia were growing, most of the traffic came from Kuala Lumpur, and highlighted potential markets in Penang and Johor, among others.
He invited local hoteliers and travel consultants to leverage on the recently launched West Java Tourism Promotion Board office in Kuala Lumpur (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 10, 2012) to promote their products in Malaysia.
