Saturday July 4, 2009
Rain on their parade
By DEEPAK GILL
The escalating costs of attending the Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival are giving fans the blues.
While the Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) is a major event for many music fans in Malaysia and beyond, the event is currently attracting attention for the wrong reasons: High costs.
Due in part to operators bent on profiteering, the costs of attending the festival have been escalating, causing even regulars to decide that enough is enough, and skip 2009’s event. This is despite the fact that some of these people have already paid several hundred ringgit for the air fare to Kuching (from KL).
The Rainforest World Music Festival ia a huge event for music fans from Malaysia and beyond. There are several hotels in Damai, the festival area about 40km from Kuching, but the rates have been spiking alarmingly. Even the state-owned property, Permai Rainforest Resort, a basic, no-frills property popular with the locals, has doubled its rates this year.
Part of the reasons for this could be because the resort’s management has been leased out to the private sector. A similar issue arose recently at Mt Kinabalu in Sabah, where expensive accommodation is deterring many locals from climbing. Staying at one of Permai’s cabins during the festival used to cost about RM200 a night three years ago. Last year the rates were raised drastically to RM558 a night.
This year, it’s a whopping RM825. Consequently, many who have stayed there have decided either not to stay at Permai (once the cheapest place) or skip this year’s three-night event altogether.
The price increase is surprising, considering Permai is a state-owned resort, not to mention the little matter of the world’s economic outlook.
It also puts a damper on the efforts of the festival organiser, Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), which started the fest in 1998 and turned it into a huge event. The beneficiaries of RWMF’s success, among others, are the resorts.
Now the resorts seem to be trying hard to turn away the very people who have made the festival a success — the fans who have been urging others to join in the festivities.
The Sarawak State Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), which owns the resort, says it has no say regarding the room rates. It’s entirely up to Damai Rainforest Resort Sdn Bhd, the company running the resort.
The increasing accommodation costs may prevent many from attending this year’s Festivities. According to Wan Yiz Ozman, director of SEDC’s Tourism & Leisure Division, “The resort has spent a considerable amount of money to upgrade the property. Naturally, they would have to recoup their investment. Thus, charging higher rates during peak season would be an appropriate and normal strategy to boost their revenue.”
How much this investment amounted to and what the money went into remain unknown. The SEDC did not want to disclose the duration of the concession given to the company nor how much the lease costs.
Damai Rainforest Resort Sdn Bhd refused to respond to questions about tariff hike, and those pertaining to the terms of their contract. The company also did not want to comment on the trend of price hikes every year during RWMF, or whether the public can expect another increase next year. This year, a very basic two-room cabin will cost RM3,300 for four nights, up from RM2,332. A one-bed treehouse cabin package that cost RM1,048 last year is being quoted at RM2,499 this year, a jump of almost 250%. And this for a resort that is pretty basic.
RWMF organiser STB says it has been trying to keep costs low. STB feels that the entry ticket of RM90 a day is reasonable.
“The festival has become much more expensive to organise as flight fares and performers’ fees have gone up but we have maintained the ticket price,” says Gracie Gelkie, CEO of STB.
Frustratingly for STB, other parties are making their job more difficult.
“I see this as the usual situation of a successful event benefiting the locality as well as destination. Of course, we will have some bad hats trying to make a quick buck by overcharging or cheating.
“I just hope all will understand that we need everybody else’s effort to help us sustain this event for its own future.”
The Sarawak SEDC owns several properties in Damai. Besides Permai Rainforest Resort, there’s the SEDC-managed Damai Beach Resort and Damai Puri Resort, all located on public property. These five-star hotels charge from RM640 a night per room during the festival.
Currently, there seems to be a lack of affordable accommodation. Visitors from Peninsular Malaysia attending the festival can expect to spend in excess of RM1,000 each for the four-day period, making visiting foreign destinations cheaper in comparison.
“It’s costly. I only spent RM1,200, including RM700 for the flight, for 10 days of travelling in Myanmar,” says Dr Andy Dhillon, 37. Visiting Angkor Wat for a week is also more affordable.
Something is not right when Malaysians have to spend more travelling locally than overseas.
Bodies like SEDC and tourism authorities need to take action when counter-productive situations arise.
Policies on sustainable tourism, an alien concept to some in the country, are needed.
It’s situations like this that ultimately lead to tourists shunning a destination in favour of better options.
Right now, Penang seems to have emerged as an alternative to RWMF. Since 2007, the state has been organising the Penang World Music Festival. The acts have been world-class and the venue attractive (The Botanical Gardens).
Cost-wise, it’s also a lot cheaper since the hotels are reasonably priced. This year’s event takes place from Nov 20-22.
Although corporate responsibility might be a new concept, tourism operators still owe the public a duty to be reasonable and not to act on short-term gains.
Whether or not RWMF will end up like the goose that laid the golden eggs as a result of profiteering remains to be seen. But many festival-goers are clearly not happy.
Henry Tan, 29, who has attended five times, says he is opting out this year.
“The price of food and drinks should be lower as the festival venue. We spend almost the entire day for three days at the venue.
“We have no choice but to eat there, and end up spending quite a lot on food, which is priced quite high.”
Ovidia Wang, 21, who went last year, is also giving the festival a miss.
“The cost of a room is just way too expensive this year. I won’t be going for the festival. I’m throwing away my air ticket.”
The Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival is on from July 10 - 12.
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