Yogya Reels as Businesses Are Deserted and Hotels Go Vacant

Ririn Radiawati Kusuma | November 08, 2010
Indonesian Rescuers Resolute After Finding Three Dead Colleagues 11:33pm Nov 7, 2010
Jakarta. Type the word “Yogyakarta” in Google and you will find a number of celebratory Web sites, including Wikipedia, which describes the city as “the second most important tourist destination in Indonesia after Bali.”

The city, which has a special province status, is well known for and makes much of its living from cultural tourism.

The lasting impact of the rise and fall of the ancient kingdoms of the Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim Javanese of the past has made the city a melting pot of the nation’s culture.

International and domestic tourists come to the city to enjoy its cultural richness, and in calmer times many take time to enjoy Mount Merapi, 30 kilometers to the north, or head west to Magelang’s Borobudur Temple.

But now, with Merapi experiencing its worst eruptions in more than a century, the tourism sector has been among the first to suffer.

Most hotels in the city and surrounding towns reported being nearly vacant in the wake of the eruptions that started on Oct. 26 and within days had buffeted areas to the west and south with volcanic dust and ash.

“Almost all of the hotels in Sleman have stopped their activity because they are covered in ash from Mount Merapi,” said Yanti Sukamdani, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association.

Yanti said hotel occupancy rates had fallen to around 40 percent from 80 percent prior to the eruption. “Who wants to come to Yogya for meetings or as a tourist in days like these?” she said.

Guests at the famous Sahid Hotel in Yogyakarta consisted almost entirely of stranded passengers from the scores of flights suspended due to the ash cloud.

Other sectors have also suffered.

Jeff Wolpert, who owns a small custom woodworking shop on Yogyakarta’s west ring road, was forced to close when most of his employees had to evacuate.

“My factory is fine, but I lost nine important employees so I haven’t been able to run my business since Thursday,” he said.

He has had to halt international orders, worth $74,000, due in the next two weeks. “I hope my clients will understand,” he said.

Suryo Bambang Sulisto, the new chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), agreed that the Merapi incident had hampered business.

“Just imagine how many export deals were canceled due to this incident,” he said.

He added that it was impossible to predict the total potential losses due to the eruption. Airlines have also experienced steep losses thanks to flights being canceled, rerouted or delayed to and from Yogyakarta and other nearby airports.

State flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has halted all services between Yogyakarta and both Jakarta and Denpasar until at least Tuesday.

Garuda spokesman Pujobroto estimated that 16,000 passengers had been affected.

“We are still hoping to update the situation,” he said.

The airline’s chairman, Emirsyah Satar, acknowledged that the incident would cause revenue loss for the airline, which has already posted lackluster profits for the year.

“But what can we do? This is force majeur. We can’t fight against nature,” he said.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/yogya-reels-as-businesses-are-deserted-and-hotels-go-vacant/405449