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THE hotel sector still needs additional stimulus to move back amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Chairperson of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Hariyadi B. Sukamdani said that the government had provided stimulus in Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) No. 44/PMK.03/2020 as an expansion of PMK 23 which regulates incentives in the form of PPh subsidies 21, exemption from income tax Article 22 import, and reduction of income tax Article 25 by 30%. The stimulus has not yet had an impact on the hotel sector.
“However, the electricity stimulus is very influential in the hotel sector. Other stimuli, PMK 44 has no effect. The hotel businessmen still need additional stimulus to get excited again in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The stimulus is in the form of relaxation payment of electricity and gas usage costs. for the tourism industry sector,” Hariyadi said.
He explained that entrepreneurs would want to pay electricity and gas bills according to usage, but objected if paying a minimum charge. That is because overpaying (overpaid), moreover the majority of hotels or more than 90% have recorded financial losses and their working capital reserves have also been running low.
“We also face electricity and gas costs which are very burdensome because we pay the above rather than the use or minimum charge. It is also estimated that many August land and building taxes cannot be paid due to heavy cash conditions,” he noted.
Hariyadi added, besides that, the stimulus needed was relaxation of PPh 25, relaxation of UN payments in 2020, relaxation of advertisement tax, relaxation of Social Security Administrator Body (BPJS) Employment and Health contributions.
Hariyadi suggested that the government can directly subsidize hotel entrepreneurs by buying 20% of the room occupancy per month for 6 months. This is to make the hotel company can survive.
“We have also calculated the stimulus related to working capital. Based on our calculations, all Indonesian hotels and restaurants require working capital of IDR21.30 trillion for 6 months of operation. We need subsidies from the government for company operational costs and additional working capital,” he concluded.
Hariyadi hoped that the government would immediately carry out operational expenses such as official travel, accommodation, meeting room rental, and catering. Not only that, he also hopes that the existence of airlines with their flight routes will be maintained as a provider of inter-island connectivity. [business.com/photo special]
