Hotels’ occupancy increase during Nyepi
Irawaty Wardany , The Jakarta Post , Denpasar
While Balinese Hindus observed Nyepi (the Day of Silence) on Friday in their respective homes, a large number of the island’s non-Hindu residents preferred to spend the day in hotels.
Occupancy in several hotels in the Nusa Dua tourism enclave increased up to 10 percent more than on ordinary days.
“The occupancy rate for this hotel during Nyepi was 70 percent, 10 percent more than an ordinary day,” Westin Resort Nusa Dua public relations director Reinata Tjoa told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Most guests were Balinese, but who did not celebrate Nyepi, Reinata said.
“Most of them were families with two or three children,” she said.
They may have been concerned that their children could have disturbed neighbors on the day of silence, and so opted to check-in to hotels over the holiday, Reinata said.
The hotel provided activities for both parents, and children during Nyepi, she said.
“We had yoga classes for mothers and children and other children’s activities were held around the hotel,” Reinata said.
During Nyepi, around 90 percent of the island’s 3.5 million inhabitants practiced catur berata penyepian (the four abstinences): amati geni (refraining from lighting fires or using lights), amati karya (refraining from working), amati lelanguan (refraining from indulging in leisure activities) and amati lelungan (refraining from leaving the home).
Jimbaran Bali Intercontinental Resort public relations director Dewi Anggraini said the hotel’s occupancy during Nyepi was 49.8 percent.
“That was quite a lot higher than usual,” she said.
Some, who preferred to spend the holiday outside Bali, flocked to Gilimanuk in the lead-up to the day of silence.
“During Nyepi, it becomes really silent. You don’t see anyone out in the streets and we were not even allowed to sit on our own verandah,” Ubed (originally from East Java) said Thursday, as quoted by beritabali.com.
Ubed was not comfortable with this, he said.
During Nyepi, Bali seemed like a vacant island as people all stayed at home. As night came the island became pitch dark, broken only once in a while by the flashlights of pecalang (traditional village guards) inspecting the neighborhood.
Another Bali resident, Ayu Trisnawati, said she wanted to experience a different atmosphere for this year’s Nyepi and preferred to spend it in Banyuwangi, East Java.
“I wanted to spend Nyepi at Blambangan Temple so that I can maintain a relationship with Hindu people there,” she said.
Source: The Jakarta Post
Add comment March 11th, 2008