Electricity Rates Hikes Affect Tourist Industry

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Secretary General of Bali's Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) Perry Markus said the electricity price hike will affect hotel rentals.

"Right now hotels had started raising hotel rentals following the increase in electricity rates (TDL). Hotels planned to raise their room rents to offset increased rentals, as TDL hikes increased hotel opertional costs," he said in Denpasar Monday.

He added that the TDL hike will have a direct and indirect impact on the hotel industry.

He added that the direct impact is increased expenditures on energy, while the indirect impact is increases in the prices of hotel needs, like foods and beverages. "The indirect impact would be felt next month, because electricty had been raised from July 1, 2010, raising the prices of goods and commodities," he said.

He said hotels are currently seeking formulations and solutions to the power hikes.

Perry said that power price hikes which are not raised for all capacity categories will cause that the impact for the time being  would not be felft by all hotels.   

Those raised by the government would be subscribers enjoying more than 1,300 VA with varied amounts.

Made Supatra Karang, owner of Mimpi Bungalow Hotel in Kuta tourist resort, Bali, said everything will be up to the government, without being able to do anything about the hikes.

He did not have any plan of raising room rentals. "It is not easy to raise hotel room rates. We have to be satisfied that people are still renting our hotel rooms," he said.(*)