Indonesia and World Tourism News

Indonesia ditches grammatically incorrect tourism campaign slogan after complaints

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s latest campaign to lure tourists got off to a rocky start after embarrassed officials acknowledged that a key slogan was ungrammatical and ordered it corrected.

“Visit Indonesia 2008. Celebrating 100 Years of Nation’s Awakening” has been printed on billboards, government Web sites and emblazoned on the sides of aircraft belonging to the national airline, Garuda.
To be correct, “Nation’s” should either be preceded by a definite article, the personal pronouns “our” or “my,” or be replaced with “National.”

“Our colleagues tried their best not to be reckless in creating the slogan, I’m sure,” said Thamrin Bachri, director general for marketing at the ministry of culture and tourism. “But we have been advised by several people to change the slogan,” he was quoted as saying in the Jakarta Post.

No one from the ministry was immediately available for comment.

The 1908 event referred to in the “100 Years” phrase is the founding of Indonesia’s first nationalist group, a development hailed here as a key step in the country’s eventual independence from Dutch rule in 1945.

Many people have questioned the wisdom of referring to the anniversary at all in a tourist campaign, given that few people outside the country have ever heard of it and would unlikely be interested in attending events to mark it anyway.

“Just delete the subtitle, tourists won’t understand it anyway. Even Indonesians don’t understand it,” said a comment posted on one unofficial Indonesian tourism Web site.

Bachri said the phrase would be changed to “celebrating 100 years of national awakening.”

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was to have officially launched the campaign on Jan. 1.

Indonesia drew about 5 million tourists in 2006, most to its resort island of Bali.

Source: http://deseretnews.com/article

Add comment December 28th, 2007

Indonesia launches VIY 2008 to promote tourism

JAKARTA, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) — The Indonesian Culture and Tourism Ministry has launched “Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) 2008″ in an effort to attract more foreign tourists to the country, the Antaranews agency reported on Thursday.

    Indonesian Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik officially declared the start of VIY 2008 at a function in the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Wednesday night, the report said.

    It is projected that 7 million foreign tourists will visit Indonesia during the VIY 2008, and the VIY 2008 was aimed at improving the people’s welfare through the development of the tourism sector, the report quoted the minister as saying.

    Jero Wacik said although the tourist arrivals in Indonesia in 2006 was 5.5 million less than its target of 6 million, he was still optimistic that the 7 million target for 2008 would be reached.

    ”We have prepared more than 100 events across the country in a bid to increase the foreign tourist arrivals,” Jero Wacik said before striking a gong marking the commencement VIY 2008.

    He called all tourism business people and the public in general to become a good host by being hospitable, help maintain security, and keep their regions clean.

    Jero Wacik said his office has prepared 15 million U.S. dollars which will be used to promote the VIY 2008 all over the world, among others, through advertisements on overseas TV stations.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/

Add comment December 28th, 2007