Senggigi Tourism Recovering Slowly

Tourism has been slow to recover in Senggigi with occupancy rates remaining below 50 percent despite ongoing collaborations between provincial and regency/municipal administrations as well as business operators to revive the once thriving travel destination.

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

The beauty of the beaches and underwater nature is the main attraction of Lombok tourism, such as Sejuk Beach in Tanjung district, North Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara, as seen on this photo taken on Saturday (25/8/2018). Tourism, which is one of the pillars of Lombok\'s economy, was recently damaged by a series of earthquakes. Various activities, including promotions, are expected to attract tourists again.

MATARAM, KOMPAS – Tourism has been slow to recover in Senggigi, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, with occupancy rates remaining below 50 percent despite ongoing collaborations between provincial and regency/municipal administrations as well as business operators to revive the once thriving travel destination.

“The occupancy rate remains low, below 20 percent. We are just trying to be patient and keep fighting,” said Puri Mas Senggigi Hotel residence manager Dewa Made Wija in Mataram on Monday (3/12/2018). The hotel has 81 rooms, some of which were slightly damaged in the August 2018 earthquake.

Wija said that tourism had been slower to recover in Senggigi than on the popular islet of Gili Trawangan, which had speedboat connections with neighboring Bali. “Travelers to Gili Trawangan are mostly Europeans who understand disaster mitigation well. They are highly aware that earthquakes and other natural disasters are common occurrences,” he said.

European travelers recover from the psychological trauma of natural disasters much faster than Asian travelers, who are mostly found in Senggigi. The Indonesian Travel Agents Association’s (Astindo) West Nusa Tenggara head, Awandi Aswinabawa, said that Asian travelers generally took a longer time to recover from the trauma of disasters than their European counterparts.

Within two weeks after the earthquake, the number of travelers in Gili Trawangan had jumped back to 800-1,000 people per day. Admittedly, this was still lower than the 2,000 daily travelers before the earthquake. “Visiting Gili Trawangan is easier because of the speedboats from Bali,” said Awandi.

Local businesses are continuing their tourism recovery efforts for the islands. The West Nusa Tenggara government has been collaborating with its regencies and municipalities in holding tourism campaigns, marathons and fun bike events, including the Mandiri Sunset Jazz show on Dec. 8 that features Jakarta jazz musicians. These events are all being held to boost tourist numbers to Senggigi.

Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort marketing communications manager Mayang Kristi said that the resort hotel reopened on Dec. 1 after repairing its rooms since September. Of the hotel’s 154 rooms, 130 were booked for Dec. 2.

The hotel had also received 40 reservations for the Christmas holiday season and 49 reservations for the New Year season, with guests comprising 25 percent domestic visitors and 5 percent foreign visitors. “We offer an opportunity for our guests to donate US$1 to earthquake relief when they check in,” said Mayang.

Kila Senggigi Beach Hotel public relations officer Stevy Yasinta said that the hotel, with its 150 rooms and 16 pool villas, had an occupancy rate of 53.94 percent in November, lower than 65 percent in the same period in 2017. Last November, 60 percent of the hotel’s rooms were reserved. “This year, the average occupancy rate is 30 percent with 27 percent new reservations,” Stevy said.

Yogyakarta has expanded safety measures for travel destinations with potential risks to ensure travelers’ safety. “Ahead of the New Year’s holiday season, we have invited the management of travel destinations with potential risks to increase safety measures,” Slema tourism agency head Sudarningsih said on Monday.

On Sunday (2/12), a visitor drowned in a river at the Lava Bantal tourist site in Berbah district of Sleman, Yogyakarta. The fatality was identified as Teddy Suhendra, 29, of Kalasan.

Lava Bantal is a geoheritage tourist site of igneous rocks that have formed from Mt. Merapi eruptions. The name Lava Bantal (pillow lava) comes from the lave that has cooled to form pillow-like shapes. The Opak River flows through the rock formations, and is a popular tubing site among travelers.

Berbah Police chief Comr. Agus Zainuddin said that Teddy, who could not swim, drowned while he was trying to save his brother Yusuf, 12.

(RUL/NCA)