Yanti Sukamdani – One of the 99 Most Powerful Women in Indonesia

Resource: Globeasia.com

Top hotelier Yanti Sukamdani is a tireless ambassador in promoting the country’s tourism industry. She is the chairwoman of the Indonesia Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI), the ASEAN Hotel and Restaurant Association and CEO of the Sahid Hotel Group which she has expanded to adopt a presence across much of Indonesia. She is now entering a new stage of her career after election to hte ouseof Representatives in April to represent Central Java for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

“Hospitality industry mover and shaker”

Yanti Sukamdani firmly believes that the hospitality sector has the potential to make a much larger contribution to the economy, as Albertus Weldison Nonto discovered.

“AT ENGINEERING SCHOOL you’re taught to mix cement, but in tourism you have to learn to mix sauces”, says SB Wiryanti Sukamdani. And, she adds, “I was a bit shocked when I first studied tourism at universit because I’d already graduated from engineering school”.

Better known as Yanti Sukamdani, she has become an improtant figure behind the development of the tourism industry in Indonesia, especially the hotel and restaurant business over the past 10 years.

As a legislative , she is proud of her contribution in the passage of Tourism Law No. 10/2009 on development of the tourism sector in Indonesia.

As a legislator, she also made a significant contribution toward dealing with the problem of trafficking in women, with an estimated 120,000 women being sent abroad illegally every year. Other legislation on export workers aims to raise the qualifications and employability of women sent to work abroad.

Indonesia’s borders, says Yanti, need to be treated carefully in order to avoid creating problems as neighboring countries suck resources from Indonesia. Yanti has established tourism schools in Manado, North Sulawesi, and Entikong, Kalimantan, both often used for trafficking.

Now she plans to establishe another school close to the border between East Nusa Tenggara province and Timor Leste. Her aim is to see Indonesian workers become sufficiently qualified and ready to work as professionals outside Indonesia, reducing the risk of being trafficked.

Driving force

A DAUGHTER OF SUKAMDANI SAHID GITO SARJONO, founder of the Sahid Jaya Hotel Group, Yanti has been at the heart of the development and growth of the hospitality business in the country.

After studying tourism at Cornell University in the US, Yanti was determined to make a success of the industry for her family. On her return to Indonesia, Yanti along with her parents and brothers, developed the Sahid Jaya hotel chain from only five hotels to its current 16 establishments across the country.

As chairwoman of the Indonesia Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI), she gas successfully introduced procedures to certify hotel and restaurant workers and standardize products in the tourism sector to meet world standards.

Her work has won praise from colleagues from other countries, especially from the Philippines, Laos, Malaysia and India. She has produced thousands of graduates every year from her colleges who have been employed in five-star hotels in Indonesia and overseas.

Need for sharper promotion

YANTI SAYS THE NEW TOURISM LAW will provide a clearer indication to all stake-holders about the way the sector should develop. For example, regional or provincial goverments will become the sole owners or tourism attractions instead of the central goverment.

Indonesia will have a tourism board that will work independently to develop and promote the country’s tourism potential. The body will accommodate stake-holders, hotel and airlines associations, experts and marketing experts and is intended to function like the Singapore and Malaysian tourism boards.

In future we want our ads in the international media to be more sharply focused, such as “Visit Komodo Island’, “Visit Sulawesi” or “Visit Indonesia’s Agro Tourism” ; not generic, as in “Visit Indonesia”.

“Singapore for example, has been marketed as an axhibition destination in Asia and even attracts textile business people from Bandung to view new technology”, says Yanti.

She hopes the number of foreign tourists will increase to 7,5 million people next year, with 100 million domestic visitors, which means airlines will carry 52 million people compared with last year’s 40 million.

The new target will see higher demand for hotel rooms and possibly new airlines. Events such as travel exhibitions will help to raise the profile of the sector as a contributor to the national economy in the future.

Yanti also believes hotels can become trend-setters in the food industry, so she has successfully organized festivals to promote Indonesian fish, coffee and tean and attracted interest from many quarters.

She adds that an increased promotional budget for tourism is essential, from the current $15 million to at least $75 million next year.

By way comparison she says Singapore allocated $100 million to welcome 16 million tourist last year while Thailand spent $60 million to attract more than 11 million visitors in the same period.

Yanti claims that if next year Indonesia can attract more than 7.5 million visitors they will spend at least $8 billion while 100 million domestic travelers would spend more than Rp120 trillion ($12 billion).

Political Influence

OUTSIDE TH HOTEL BUSINESS, Yanti acts as a vice chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Trade (Kadin) and has developed her own businesses in the foor industry, in agriculture and in the education sector.
As a legislator representing Sragen, Karanganyar and Wonogiri regency in Central Jawa, she has successfully encouraged local farmers to produce organic rice.

Use of organic fertilizer has enabled them to become the biggest organic rice producers in Indonesia and they have been certified by the Japanese government. “We also developed a techno-park, a place for multi-skill training in many subjects”, she says.

In the education sector Yanti has helped to renovate schools and is promoting 12 years of mandatory education in her constituency. “By entering politics you have the power to influence policy making and build a wide network with many parties”, she says confidently.