Our hotel business remains sluggish, but we must not surrender to this unfortunate circumstanceMedan, N Sumatra (ANTARA) - The Grand Inna Hotel in Medan, North Sumatra, is struggling to survive the major impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indonesia's hospitality industry.
"Our hotel business remains sluggish, but we must not surrender to this unfortunate circumstance," Grand Inna Hotel Medan General Manager Fery Ferdiansyah emphasized.
To ensure the survival of this state-owned hotel, the management has ramped up its efforts to boost the hotel's occupancy rate through promotion and innovation, he remarked.
"We also offer guaranteed cleanliness to our guests at our hotel," Ferdiansyah noted in a press statement that ANTARA quoted here on Thursday.
Offering rooms at competitive prices is one of the strategies adopted by the Grand Inna Hotel Medan management to attract more customers, he remarked.
"Promoting competitive prices for hotel rooms helps increase the occupancy rate, though it has yet to rise significantly," he remarked.
In the first three months of this year, the occupancy rate of this state-owned hotel had risen slightly as compared to last year.
This year, the figure was recorded at 35 percent or better than that of 2020 during which the figure stood at below 30 percent, Ferdiansyah pointed out.
Chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI)-North Sumatra Chapter Denny S. Wardhana pointed out that the province's hotel businesses had yet to recover.
"Despite its slight increase from that of 2020, the occupancy rate of hotels in North Sumatra had been by and large recorded at between 25 and 35 percent (this year)," he revealed.
In boosting the occupancy rate, Wardhana suggested that the hotel management apply CHSE, or "cleanliness, health, safety, and environment sustainability".
Indonesia has been striving to win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic since the government officially announced the country's first confirmed cases on March 2, 2020.
In winning its fight against the coronavirus disease, it has launched a national vaccination program.
The Health Ministry pegs that it would take 15 months to vaccinate some 181.5 million people under the vaccination program.
Since January 26, 2021, Indonesia's confirmed coronavirus infections had crossed one million.
To attain herd immunity and free the nation from the clutches of the pandemic, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has stressed on the need to successfully offer the COVID-19 vaccination to the targeted population.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease has siphoned Indonesia into grave public health and economic crises.
Tourism has been among the acute impacted economic sectors in the country, and akin to several other provinces, tourism in North Sumatra has also borne the brunt of the pandemic.
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Translator: Evalisa S, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
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