Jokowi's Instruction Poses Threat to Hotel Industry  

TEMPO.CO, Makassar - Anggiat Sinaga, the head of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association of South Sulawesi chapter, said President Joko Widodo’s instruction barring civil servants to hold meetings and conventions at hotels and restaurants had threatend both industries. 

"We are surprised by the statement," Anggiat told Tempo on Sunday, November 9, 2014, adding that government activities contributed around 40 percent to the income of hotels and restaurants.

Anggiat said the instruction could potentially lead to the closure of numerous hotels in South Sulawesi in two years' time. He said this was because most of the investments in the province's hotel industry, around 75 percent, were financed from bank loans.

“If we have no income, how can we be expected to pay our loans?” he said.

He said that Makassar was presently home to 150 hotels, with a total of 8,000 rooms. In 2015, he added, there would be another 20 hotels with approximately 2,500 rooms.

Anggiat explained that MICE (meeting, incentive, convention, and exhibition) was the second largest contributor to the province's revenue with Rp150 billion expected this year.

IIN NURFAHRAENI DEWI PUTRI