Tsunami-hit Indonesian hotel faces long recovery

PANGANDARAN, Indonesia, July 22 (Reuters) The Pantai Sri Rahayu hotel on the shattered beachfront of this Indonesian resort does not expect to welcome any more guests for at least a year after this week's tsunami.

Five days after huge waves crashed along a 300-km stretch of the south coast of Indonesia's Java island, killing more than 600 people, the clearing up operation goes on.

''I don't think people will come here for a year'', said Tumijo, a 24-year-old worker at the hotel, surveying the damage.

The grey-concrete, 26-room hotel that advertises air conditioning and colour television got off more lightly than some of the surrounding buildings that were completely demolished.

But although structurally intact, the damage was still extensive, with windows at the front of the building smashed, air conditioning units mangled and one dividing concrete wall destroyed.

Downstairs rooms are filled with black sand, strewn with rubbish and stinking of the sea. In one room, a splintered wooden door hangs off its hinges and a white porcelain toilet is smashed in pieces.

The business card of the hotel, whose owner lives in the Indonesian city of Bandung, carries the tag: ''Have a nice stay with us''.

Luckily only two guest rooms were being used when the tsunami struck and no one was killed.

Tumijo, a local from Pangandaran who said it was too early to estimate the cost of fixing the damage, said that people would be afraid to come back soon.

The resort is popular with Indonesians and also gets a number of foreign visitors, six of whom were killed by the tsunami.

Dutchman Paul Beudel arrived on the day the tsunami struck but unlike most tourists in the town decided to stay on for his planned vacation.

''I think I'll stay for another 10 days'', said the 64-year-old, wheeling along his red mountain bike.

He said he hadn't met any other tourists since Monday and had few illusions about how long it would take for other tourists to regain confidence in visiting the resort.

''It will take a long time, two years for locals and for foreigners a bit more.'' REUTERS AD HS0806