Tourism recovering in Indonesia's quake-hit Lombok with rising hotel occupancy rate: hotel operator
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E-mail Xinhua, February 24, 2019
MATARAM, Indonesia, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Hotels in the quake-hit island of Lombok in Indonesia have seen rising occupancy rate thanks to effective sales and promotion programs, coupled with renovation for damaged facilities, a hotel operator has said.
Lining up alongside the main road in northern Lombok area of Senggigi, several hotels that were significantly damaged by the devastating earthquake in August last year were apparently neat and tidy with tour cars picking up and dropping foreign tourists in their premises.
An operator of a resort in Senggigi said that hotel occupancy rate in the area has been rising from the worst situation after a 7.0-magnitude quake hit the island on Aug. 5, 2018, leaving hundreds dead.
"Our average occupancy rate now has risen to 50 percent. It will take more time to make it back to 85 percent like in 2017," General Manager of Katamaran Resort Wayan Sudiarta told Xinhua on Thursday.
Wayan said his resort quickly took initiatives to renovate the facilities and resumed operation.
"We only sustained minor damages, like a bit cracks in the walls, thanks to our resort's strong construction," he said, adding that the renovation work was complete in October last year.
Occupancy rate of the resort reached 70 percent during the recent Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, he said.
According to Wayan, Chinese tourists have greatly contributed to his resort's business, thanks to its cooperation with Chinese travel agencies and customer reviews.
"Chinese guests in our resort constantly contributed 15 percent to overall guests. This figure may increase higher in special occasions like Lunar New Year and Chinese national day holiday in October," he said.
With the coming Easter holiday in April and the Eid holiday in June in Indonesia, "I am optimistic that our occupancy rate may reach up to 75 percent by June," Wayan said.
The tourism in the region is expected to recover sooner with plans for more direct flights to the island and more seaports, he said. Enditem
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