ER
THE Indonesia’s government plans to disburse new incentives for the hotel, restaurant and café industry. This has also received responses from hoteliers, one of which is PT Dafam Hotel Management (DHM).
In previous news, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartanto said the government was discussing the incentives for the hospitality sector through coordination with the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Finance. This was done after the government imposed fiscal incentives in the form of tax relaxation for the property and automotive sectors.
According to CEO of DHM, Andhy Irawan assessed that so far the government still has shortcomings in the matter of gathering tourism business actors and the hospitality industry to discuss priority incentive policies needed in this sector. As a result, existing policies tend to be less targeted to industries that need them.
“So it does not mean that the incentives from the government are not good, but sometimes they are not right on target,” he said, Tuesday (2/3).
Regarding the current condition of the hotel business, Andhy said that all hotels under Dafam’s management had an increase in occupancy when they entered the beginning of this year. However, the occupancy rate is certainly not as optimal as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile in separately, the Secretary General of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), Maulana Yusran, said that one of the incentives needed for hotel and restaurant managers today is working capital subsidies which are not loans. This is to maintain the continuity of business operations, including paying employee salaries to paying electricity and water bills.
“Working capital in the form of loans is not appropriate for hotel and restaurant businesses. Moreover, both hotels and restaurants are highly dependent on the condition of the tourism industry, which in fact is currently under pressure and it is not yet known when it will recover. In fact, it is feared that hotel and restaurant entrepreneurs will not be able to repay loans given from banks,” Maulana noted.
He added that the tourism sector is still experiencing losses. I think banks are also doubtful about giving loans, because the risk of default is quite large. [photo special]
