THE occupancy rate for five-star hotel rooms in North Sumatra has fallen again due to the government’s tightened policy on community activity restrictions (PPKM) to suppress the spread of COVID-19.
According to the Head of the Regional Executive Board of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) of North Sumatra, Denny S Wardhana in Medan, Saturday (6/26) said the hotel occupancy rate was 20-30% from the previous 35% and above. The decline in the occupancy rate and followed by a reduction in activities at hotels as a result of PPKM which is increasingly being tightened by the government to suppress the spread of COVID-19.
“The tightening of PPKM makes the operating hours of business/entertainment activities at hotels increasingly limited and it reduces hotel guest visits. Previously it was allowed to open until 21.00 WIB to only 20.00 WIB,” he said.
He explained that management understands the government’s policy to tighten the implementation of PPKM and hopes that the number of COVID-19 can go down so that all businesses can operate normally. Until now, hotel management in North Sumatra still has not sold all of its hotel rooms because there is still the COVID-19 pandemic.
“On average hotels in North Sumatra, he said, still operate about 50% of the rooms. Because hotel room operations are not 100% yet, the hotel management has not re-employed all employees who were previously “laid off” since April 2020,” he concluded. [antaranews/photo special]