TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Head of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Hariyadi Sukamdani on Tuesday, July 14, said that the global pandemic has highly affected the tourism sector, especially hotels and restaurants. It has caused a total loss of Rp85.7 trillion.

"The loss for the hotel sector has reached Rp30 trillion and restaurants endured Rp40 trillion up until April. The total losses from the aviation industry reached US$812 million (Rp11.7 trillion) while tour operators lost Rp4 trillion,” said Hariyadi in Tuesday’s virtual House (DPR) Hearing with Commission X members.

Hariyadi continued, around 2,000 hotels are facing closure with similar conditions happening to 8,000 restaurant businesses. He asserted that the industry hopes this bleak situation will not last long as hotels and restaurants have started to operate gradually mid-June.

This trend coincides with the 44 percent drop in global tourist visits compared to last year which was recorded by the World Tourism Organization.

The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Head said there is at least 95 percent of workers in the tourism sector that had been laid off. The effectiveness of the government stimulus granted to tourism businesses was also deemed ineffective as Hariyadi claims the largest operational costs are employee salaries.

Read: Tourism Ministry to Release Handbook on New Normal

EKO WAHYUDI