Travel management companies and business hotels in Indonesia count on a pickup in corporate travel soon, now that the Iraqi war and SARS panic have subsided. MIMI HUDOYO reports.

What has kept corporate travel to and within Indonesia alive are industries such as oil, and the huge domestic market.

With SARS being kept at bay in the region, hotels and corporate travel management companies (TMCs) in Indonesia are counting on some recovery.

For many though, total business this year will still register a decline even if recovery takes place in the second half. Bayu Buana, for instance, now expects to end the year with a 30 per cent drop overall over last year.

But vice-president director, Mr Pranowo Gumulia, prefers to look forward. “The oil companies are one of the few businesses which are still firmly doing business in Indonesia. In fact, some of our clients are going ahead with plans to expand their business in the country.”

As the oil production is outside Jakarta and Java, Mr Pranowo expects not only a pick-up in inbound and outbound expatriate traffic, but in the domestic sector as well. “The war is over. We have learnt that embassy staff have started to return to their posts. This is a good sign.

“And with the SARS panic now over, people will have the confidence to travel again within the next few months,” he said.

TMCs that have been able to demonstrate resilience during the recent crises will keep their clients, observes Mr Pranowo. “Before the war broke, for example, we gave clients a 24-hour service. We appointed staff to be on standby at any time to assist our corporate clients.

“We kept them informed of changes in flight schedules, what the airlines were doing to prevent SARS and helped allay their concerns, such as whether headsets, blankets, cutlery used on aircraft were SARS-free,” he said.

Hotels in Jakarta, which have been able to survive by turning their focus to the domestic market while maintaining regional accounts, expect business to return within three to four months.

Shangri-La Jakarta general manager, Mr Kieran Twomey, wants to increase the domestic pie further. “I think this is the best time for corporations or associations in the Indonesian regions to organise meetings in Jakarta or Surabaya.

“Corporate travellers from overseas will also return because they have to do their business in Indonesia,” he said.

Similarly, Sheraton Media Hotel and Towers expects business travel to return within two to three months.

“From experience, business travel will bounce back faster than the leisure travellers. I think the Asian travel market will return within three or four months,” director of sales and marketing Mr Yusa Aziz said.

Mr Aziz believes as Indonesia was not a SARS-affected country, recovery will be quicker. He also believes airlines will reinstate flights as soon as demand picks up.

Hotels such as President Hotel Jakarta show their confidence in the country by going ahead with their extension plans.

President Hotel Jakarta, to be rebranded Nikko after its expansion, is located in the main business district, surrounded by embassies and office buildings. Owned by Wisma Nusantara, which also manages an office building next to the hotel, it believes as long as there is money to be made in Indonesia, there will be corporate travel dollars to be made by hotels.

Director of sales and marketing, Mr Agus Hariyadi, said: “We have seen new businesses from Asia, Europe and Indonesia taking space at the nearby office blocks. These are the markets we are trying to develop.”

The only thing that may keep the expected recovery in the next few months short is next year's presidential election.

“I'm sure there will be impact, but I hope the government will take measures to control them. It has shown its capability during the Iraq war by containing violence during the escalating concern over the reaction towards the war. What we saw were mostly peace demonstrations,” Mr Pranowo said.

But TMCs and hotels are not going to let the election worry spoil their hopes of recovery in the next few months - and their chance to go for the kill.