Indonesian hoteliers urge government to review meetings policy
The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association has urged Indonesia’s new government to reconsider its directive that all government meetings be held in offices rather than hotels.
The association said the rule will seriously affect some hotels which rely on government meetings for 40-50% of their business.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo had ordered government officials to hold meetings on office premises to cut costs.
"Hotel business is an agent of economic development in a region and the hotel and restaurant sectors contributed up to Rp50 trillion (US$4.2 billion) of tax revenue in 2012, the second largest source after oil and gas," said association chairman Yanti Sukamdani.
"The government has set a high target of 20 million international arrivals and 75 million domestic travellers. One of the sectors that will contribute to this is MICE."
IHRA vice chairman, Hariyadi Sukamdani said the move could be counterproductive.
"Out-of-town participants still need to stay in a hotel and need transport to travel to and from the government offices. Is it really cost and time efficient?"
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