Bali hotels, tours to increase prices up to 20 per cent next year

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Tourism businesses in Bali have announced their plan to increase hotel and tour tariffs by around 10 to 20 per cent next year.

"The general increase will be around 10 to 20 per cent. However, we believe most hotels will not charge more than 10 per cent due to the tight competition with new hotels," deputy chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Tour and Travel Agencies Association (Asita) Ketut Ardana said.

Ardana acknowledged that it was common for hotels and travel agents that were able to maintain their quality to increase their tariffs annually.

Ardana said that for tour and travel agencies deciding on prices to charge customers for holiday packages, the cost of accommodation was the largest factor among a range of expenses that included transportation, entrance fees, meals and tour guide fees. The Bali chapters of Asita and the Indonesian Tour Guide Association (HPI) evaluate tour guide fees every two years, while other expenses are evaluated annually.

Chairman of the Denpasar chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Ida Bagus Gede Sidharta Putra and of the Badung PHRI chapter, I Gusti Ngurah Suryawijaya, both stated that the increase in hotel room tariffs had been considered from several factors, including the influx of visitors, exchange rates, the increase in minimum wages at regency and province level and the central government's plan to increase the basic tariff for electricity by 15 per cent next year, as well as competition against other countries' tourism destinations.

Suryawijaya pointed out that some hotels would start increasing their tariffs by early next year, while others would wait until the middle of the year. Acknowledging that hotel tariffs were under the authority of the hotels, Suryawijaya said: "The association cannot interfere. We can only support their decisions and considerations related to their tariffs."