Archive for January, 2008
Iyan Nurmansyah, Oxford, UK
When a grammatical mistake was spotted in Indonesia’s tourism slogan, I felt a little forgiving towards the person responsible, given the task of thinking it up. I am not trying to make excuses; I think we must admit English is one of the most complicated languages in the world.
In fact it is not only the grammar, but pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary that are also hurdles to mastering English. These hurdles are not just challenging for us who were not born as native English speakers, but also for those who were “lucky enough” to be born and educated in an English-speaking environment. Believe me, they frequently make mistakes too.
Hopefully the lesson from the grammatical mistake in our slogan will be that in the future our tourism slogans will only contain words which are warm, not gimmicky, and most importantly, eye-catching. A slogan such as “Explore the chain of islands, explore Indonesia” could be considered a more powerful and captivating slogan.
Some of you might wonder why I chose “the chain of islands” instead of “archipelago”. The answer is because “archipelago” is a “big” and “gimmicky” word. I doubt if the average native English speaker knows the true meaning of the word. We must also remember that the native language of a reader of the English version of the slogan may not be a native English speaker anyway.
In fact, using “simple” and “unsophisticated” words is fundamental for the success of any campaign which targets a mass audience. For example, the most famous political slogan in British political history, which brought Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party to power, was indeed very easy to grasp: “Labor isn’t working”.
Not only was it a blow to the Labor Party, most importantly it did not require a triple digit IQ to understand. The slogan was very simply constructed using words understood by everybody. At the same time, it had a powerful message, and left a strong impression on the voters.
Another example is in the media. The Sun, published in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, has the highest circulation of any English-language daily newspaper worldwide. Some of you who are familiar with the content of the paper might cheekily smile. However, it is a perfect example that simple and unsophisticated sentences and words sell.
If you pay attention to the content of The Sun, it is easy to notice that most of the sentences are very short compared to other English language newspapers. There is never a “big” word if a simpler one exists. In fact there is a rather condescending saying amongst readers of more sophisticated British papers: “You’ll seldom find a word longer than “Wednesday” in The Sun.” Indeed, it seems the editors and contributors do indeed go to great lengths to avoid any word longer than nine letters.
What we can draw from both examples is that, in order to grab the attention of mass audiences, it is necessary to appeal to everyone. Like any political speech to a nation, it must be universally understood, either by a businessman in New York or a very simple person in Timbuktu.
Given that those who create political and marketing slogans for English-language readers use simple and very easily understood phrases, why do we have to be pretentious and come up with a “sophisticated” but boring sentence?
If we want to show our cultural diversity to foreigners, then probably “Discover spicy Indonesia” would be a better slogan. “Spicy” is a general term for mixed spices, and it could be seen as a metaphor of our mixed background as a nation. It can also have deeper meanings, as in “Variety is the spice of life”, allowing people to interpret it well beyond food.
If we want to attract foreigners to our breathtaking natural beauty, then “Explore a chain of islands, explore Indonesia” would probably be more effective in making an impression. “Explore” is a simple word that everybody knows, “chain of islands” sounds intriguing, and the word “island” itself could give an idea of beauty and serenity.
“Simple but smart” should definitely be born in mind when we create future tourism slogans, not “smart but boring and pretentious”.
Source: The Jakarta Post
January 11th, 2008
Beginning 30 January 2007, AirAsia will commence direct flights to Yogyakarta, Indonesia from Kuala Lumpur, documenting its entry into its 13th destinations in Indonesia. The Airline of the Year 2007 has the most extensive service into Indonesia sprawling across cities such as Bali, Balikpapan, Banda Aceh, Bandung, Batam, Jakarta, Medan, Padang, Palembang, Pekan Baru, Solo, Surabaya and now Yogyakarta.
AirAsia will begin with four (4) flights per week to Yogyakarta departing from LCC Terminal, Kuala Lumpur on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. The airline’s new 180-seater Airbus A320 will be deployed for the route.
Yogyajarta is a city with outstanding historical and cultural heritage. Renowned for being the centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture, Yogyakarta is also known as one of Indonesia’s most important centres for higher education. A visit to Kraton, the Royal Palace of the Sultan, will have one mesmerized with Gamelan, the beautiful Javanese traditional music and Ramayana ballet.
Tony Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia, said, “Yogyakarta has long been on our list of destinations that we want to fly to and it certainly adds value to our route network. The new service into Yogyakarta augurs well for both countries in promoting the exchange of tourist, labour, and small and medium enterprise traffic. In addition, year 2008 marks an exciting year for Indonesia as it is Visit Indonesia Year and we are excited to be able to play a key role in promoting the beautiful city and people of Yogyakarta to the rest of the world.”
“By means of AirAsia’s extensive route network in ASEAN, amazing low fares and high safety standards, we are optimistic in boosting tourism economy for all the countries we fly to, and specifically in this case, we are also looking forward to strengthening our domestic routes in Indonesia via our hub in Jakarta.”
Source: http://www.traveldailynews.com/
January 9th, 2008
Serang, Banten (ANTARA News) - Banten province is preparing two national tourist events as the central government has entrusted the province to be a supporting tourist destination in the Visit Indonesia Year 2008, a local official said here Thursday.
The two national tourist events being prepared by the province are Festival Perkusi Nusantara (the Archipelago`s Percussion Festival) and Gebyar Wisata Banten (the Banten Tourism Festivity).
In 2008, head of the Banten provincial culture and tourism office Ranta Suharta told ANTARA that the office is preparing nine programs which will be implemented in 23 activities to develop and promote the province`s culture and tourism.
“We are preparing the programs to avoid possible overlapping as in 2008, a national Qur`an reading contest will also be held in Banten,” Ranta said.
He said the province had a very good opportunity by holding the upcoming Archipelago`s Percussion Festival and the Banten Tourism Festivity in an effort to reawaken and further promote its culture and tourism both at national and international levels.
Banten has attractive tourist sites including the beaches of Anyer, Carita, Karang Bolong and Bagedur as well as pilgrimage tourist sites besides interesting traditional arts like debus, rampak bedug and local dances.
Ranta pointed out that the Krakatau Tourism to be held in Anyer Beach, Serang district, was also expected to highlight the Visit Indonesia Year 2008. (*)
Source: ANTARA News
January 9th, 2008
The one important thing missing from your editorial on tourism (Dec. 28) was any mention of visas. Although you quite rightly said that Indonesia has much more to offer than Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, we fail miserably in attracting tourists.
The present visa system is very bad and urgently needs rethinking. Until about three years ago it was okay, with most tourists able to enter the country without a visa, simply getting a travel pass stamped in their passport on arrival that was valid for a 60-day stay at no charge and with no waiting.
But then the rules were tightened, requiring a visa to be obtained either before travel or on arrival, which was valid for 30 days only and was not extendible. These visas cost US$30. This move, aside from restricting the amount of time tourists can stay in the country, has caused intolerable delays at entry points into the country, resulting in less visitors.
On the other hand, our nearest neighbors and our strongest competitors (Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand) do not require tourists to apply for visas. These countries welcome tourists with open arms, whereas Indonesia makes it very difficult indeed.
This is probably a major reason why tourist numbers in these countries are several times higher than tourist numbers in Indonesia. In Indonesia, tourist numbers have not increased significantly over the last five years. From this it is obvious we are competing on a very uneven playing field and the rules have to be changed.
There is no doubt the present visa system has been a disaster. In addition to the negative aspects mentioned above, the amount of money collected from the system is trifling compared to the amount lost through tourists cutting their holidays short or deciding not to come at all.
The sooner we can return to the old system the better for the future of tourism in Indonesia. No matter how much money is spent on promoting tourism in Indonesia, there will be little improvement until these changes are made. Such changes would almost certainly bring huge benefits to the country.
WALTER JAMIESON
Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara
Source: The Jakarta Post
January 8th, 2008
JAKARTA (AFP) — International flights are set to resume to and from the Indonesian ancient cultural city of Yogyakarta as Southeast Asia’s largest economy seeks to boost tourism, an official said Friday.
The head of Yogyakarta’s tourism office, Tazbir, said that flights from the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur would be served by Malaysian Airlines and Air Asia, with return trips flown three or four times a week each.
“We are relaunching flights as a part of Visit Indonesia 2008,” he told AFP, referring to the country’s new tourism campaign.
The national flag carrier Garuda stopped flying to the city on Java island at the end of 2005 due to a lack of aircraft, shortly before the city and surrounds were hit by an earthquake that killed 6,000 people.
Indonesia, which has endured a series of terror bombings, natural disasters and health scares, recorded a 2.38 percent drop in foreign tourist arrivals to four million in 2006.
Arrivals jumped 14 percent in the first 11 months of 2007.
About 150,000 of those arrivals were to Yogyakarta, the usual launchpad for tourists visiting the ancient Buddhist temples of Borobudur and the Hindu temples at Prambanan, Tazbir said.
“With international direct flights, we hope to raise the arrival of international tourists by 30 percent this year,” he said.
Malaysian Airlines will begin flying on January 30 while Malaysian budget carrier Air Asia will start its flights two days later, he added.
In March last year, a Garuda jet on a domestic flight burst into flames on landing in Yogyakarta, killing 21 people.
Source: http://afp.google.com/
January 8th, 2008
David Kluwen’s letter (appearing in The Jakarta Post, Dec. 27) correctly highlighted that Indonesia’s tourism development has been suppressed by ineffective promotions and retrograde visa rules.
In Indonesia’s major secondary destinations, including Bromo, Malang, Brastagi, Solo, Batam and Tanjung Pinang, there were signs that many of these beautiful places were in the midst of a continuing and long term decline in foreign visitor arrivals.
A visitor can immediately see public tourism facilities, such as visitor’s centers, directional signage, tourist-oriented shopping areas and hotels, have been neglected for well over a decade.
If you ask older locals why, it doesn’t take long find out: During the 80’s and early 90’s, under the leadership of former Tourism Minister Joop Ave, Indonesia enjoyed a golden era of inbound tourist activity, (relatively) free from red tape, taxes and rent seeking civil servants.
The watershed occurred around 1983, when the 60 day red-tape free tourist visa was introduced. Over the past decade and half, however, visitors have found a holiday to Indonesia has become increasingly expensive in terms of money, time and frustrating experiences.
Visitors’ time spent “learning the ropes” — such as negotiating for tickets from touts and price gougers — starts the minute they set foot in the country, at an airport or ferry port terminal. Visitors find no useful tourist information to guide themselves. Their first experience, at the immigration counter, is all too often a bad one.
The bad experience continues where advertised hotel and restaurant prices whack hefty 20-30 percent taxes and surcharges onto each bill.
Here is just one example of the rent seeking that suppresses every part of the tourist industry: Those who visit Batam this New year may have trouble getting their favorite alcoholic drink.
Riau Islands is suffering one of its routine alcohol shortages due to one of those all-too-frequent turf wars between the civil servants (who license the distribution of alcohol), those who allow ships to pass freely on the seas, and the those who control ports.
If tourist arrivals are to ever reach their huge potential, the existing crop of untalented rent-seeking political hacks who run this important economic sector must be replaced by the kind of visionary leaders that Indonesian tourism once briefly had.
EVAN JONES
Batam, Riau Islands
Source: The Jakarta Post
January 7th, 2008
According to Antara news, Indonesia has received a growing number of Chinese tourists however these visitors are still using foreign airlines to make the journey, said Mr Sudrajat, Indonesia’s ambassador to China.
Most of the Chinese visitors used other airlines such as Southern Airlines, which offer direct flights between Shanghai and Bali, and China Air. Last year, there were over 30, 000 Chinese travellers to Indonesia and it is anticipated that the figure will be twice as much this year.
“National airlines have yet to grab the opportunity offered by the increasing number of Chinese people who go to Indonesia, and they have not been able to increase their Indonesia-China flight frequencies,” said Mr Sudrajat,
The Visit Indonesia Year 2008 (VIY) was recently launched in Jakarta during December last year by Indonesia’s Minister for Tourism and Culture, Jero Wacik.
The program aims to help Indonesia attract around seven million tourists from around the world. After the Visa-On-Arrival service was introduced for Chinese officials travelling to Indonesia, the number of Chinese visitors to places like Bali grew considerably, said Sudrajat.
However, the ambassador commented that several Chinese tourists had criticized the service they had received while using Indonesian airlines. This included things such as common delays in flight.
The Indonesian Ambassador called on the Tourism and Culture Ministry, the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing as well as flight and tour operators to help Indonesia reach the target set for Chinese travellers arriving in 2008.
There are currently three Indonesian carriers that fly offer flights between Indonesia and China including Garuda Indonesia, Batavia Air and Lion Air.
Source: http://www.etravelblackboardasia.com/
January 7th, 2008
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia rose 8.6 percent in November from the same period in 2006, government data showed on Wednesday, helped by a surge in visitors to the resort island of Bali.
The number of foreign tourists in Indonesia was 398,983 in November, bringing total arrivals in the first 11 months of 2007 to 4.11 million people, up 13.67 percent from around 3.62 million a year ago, the statistics’ bureau was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Tourists have started to flock back to Bali after staying away from the predominantly Hindu island following suicide bombings by Islamic militants in 2005 and 2002.
Tourism in the island was also boosted by the U.N. climate change conference in December.
“Some NGO (non-government organisation) members and delegations from some countries came earlier in November preparing for the conference,” said Djinaldi Gosana, head of
Bali Hotel Association.
“I expect the figure to keep increasing this year. More events and festivals are coming up. For example in June and July there will be a Bali Art Festival.”
Tourist arrivals in Bali, which accounts for more than 40 percent of Indonesia’s total foreign arrivals, rose 24.4 percent to 153,037 in November 2007 from the same period in 2006.
The government estimates some 6 million foreign tourists visited in Indonesia in 2007, up 25 percent from a year earlier. Tourism is expected to have contributed around $5.5 billion to foreign exchange earnings last year, up from $4.5 billion in 2006.
The vast tropical nation has a wide array of tourist attractions ranging from rainforests to beaches, volcanoes and ancient temples.
But the tourism industry, which accounts for around 5 percent of Indonesia’s gross domestic product, has also been hit by a string of disasters in recent years including tsunamis, fatal outbreaks of bird flu. (*)
Source: ANTARA News
January 4th, 2008
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In order to achieve a targeted seven million foreign tourists under this year’s Visit Indonesia Year program, the government should intensify cooperations with players in the tourism industry and grab new potential markets, observers said.
Yanti Sukamdani, head of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI), said the government should not work alone in making Visit Indonesia Year a success, as there were still many obstacles to be tackled.
“A limited budget for instance, is still a problem and it will somehow affect the promotion efforts, especially abroad,” she told The Jakarta Post Tuesday.
“But this can be tackled by improving cooperation with players in the tourism sector.”
The government has allocated US$15 million to finance the overseas campaign of the visit Indonesia program, under which the country expects to lure at least seven million foreign tourists.
Meity Robot of the Indonesian Tourism Society said in addition to helping finance the campaign, cooperation with actors in the tourism industry would also help the government understand the tourists’ preferences.
“The government should know tourism destination preferences so the campaign can effectively reach its set targets,” Meity said.
The government said it expects the visit Indonesia program would at the very least attract six million tourists and should raise up to $6.4 billion in foreign exchange revenue.
Association of Tours and Travel head Ben Sukma told the Post the government’s optimistic target of seven million was unlikely to be realized because markets had not been well analyzed.
“The government has to work very hard in analyzing the markets through exploring and packaging the uniqueness of programs in every destination, so that it can attract tourists with different characteristics from different regions,” Ben said.
For 2007, the government targeted 5.5 million foreign tourists, lower than the original target of 6 million tourists.
From January to November last year, the Central Statistic Agency (BPS) revealed Wednesday 4.11 million foreign tourists have arrived through Indonesia’s 15 main entry gates.
BPS said these figures were up by 13.67 percent, from 3.62 million during the same period of 2006.
Although foreign tourist arrivals in 2007 were lower than predicted, Yanti said the government could reach the minimum target this year if it made extra efforts.
Yanti said these efforts should include campaigning to seek new markets.
“Besides countries in Southeast Asia and Australia, the government, for example, should start campaigning in Middle Eastern countries, Russia and India,” she said.
“To do this, the government should eagerly cooperate with the embassies and players in tourism in those countries.”(ndr)
Source: Jakarta Post
January 4th, 2008
As we begin the New Year, we are all asking the same question: What does 2008 have in store for us? Looking at the horizon, one could say plenty.
The government has designated 2008 “Visit Indonesia Year”, hoping to cash in on the growing global tourism industry. With a modest US$15 million promotional budget, the government has planned many events to attract not just foreigners, but also the burgeoning domestic tourist market.
In May, Indonesia will mark the centenary of what is officially called National Awakening Day. This recognises the founding of Boedi Oetomo on May 22, 1908, as the beginning if the first indigenous organization to have a a true vision of Indonesia. That movement, consisting largely of medical students, encouraged the formation of other nationalist organizations to challenge the Dutch colonial government of the time. They snowballed into a common struggle for freedom that culminated with the Independence Proclamation on August 17, 1945. It was a milestone in the modern history of Indonesia and is worthy of a big celebration.
Less conspicuous but an important moment for The Jakarta Post, is our Silver Jubilee celebrations. We intend to keep our anniversary low-profile, instead pushing to the forefront of the national agenda what we consider to be the most important and pressing challenge Indonesia needs to tackle: Education.
Our founding fathers laid out the vision that for Indonesia to advance as an independent nation, we have to strengthen and promote education. In the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution, they wrote that one of the tasks of the state is “to enlighten the life of the nation”.
Nearly 63 years after we declared our independence, the vision of “an enlightened nation” through education has not become a reality. It remains as illusive as the other main goals of independence like justice and prosperity.
Where exactly do we stand in terms of our education?
Compared with our situation 63 years ago, we can take pride in the fact that many more people are now going to school and that many more people go on to complete tertiary education.
But these statistics belie a deeper problem: More than two-thirds of our workforce have only a primary school diploma, creating a large pool of unskilled laborers that are neither helpful for the advancement of the country, nor for their own prosperity. The numbers of Indonesian college graduates, not to mention PhDs, are still meager compared to our needs.
This creates an anomaly whereby we have a surplus of unskilled or semi-skilled workers, but a shortage of managers, intellectuals, and most of all, leaders.
A better measure is to compare the performance our education with that of other countries in the region, most of which became independent much later than we did. In the 2007 UNDP Human Development Index, Indonesia ranked 107th, below Singapore (25), Korea (26), Malaysia (63), Thailand (78), China (81), the Philippines (90) and Vietnam (105). Education is very much part of the calculations of the index, and this is where Indonesia, in spite of a head start in independence, trails behind these countries.
The sorry state of our education raises serious questions about whether the nation is truly free and independent. It certainly makes Indonesia vulnerable to the new forms of tyranny and suppression of the modern era.
Rather than lamenting the sorry state of our education, it is not too late for the nation to act and remedy this situation. This much we owe to our founding fathers, who already paid with their blood, sweat and tears to secure our freedom.
The Jakarta Post feels very strongly about the need for this issue to take center position on the national agenda, especially in view of our celebrations of National Awakening Day in May.
Therefore, we are dedicating our Silver Jubilee celebrations this year to the promotion of the education sector. Besides publishing articles to underline the challenges and the search for solutions, we also plan to organize a major seminar in May on the relationship between education and nation building.
In our limited way, The Jakarta Post will help to promote the teaching of English, the language of a global world, at schools through the launching of the Youthspeak tabloid. We hope that this not-for-profit Newspaper in Education program will receive corporate sponsorship through CSR programs. We will also be organizing an English literary festival during the year.
The 25th anniversary logo, with the caption “Essential Reading for the Future” was designed with this concern in mind. This logo will appear throughout the year to remind us of our commitment to education.
We wish to use this opportunity to appeal to our loyal readers, advertisers and other stakeholders in the newspaper to join in our endeavor, individually or with us, to help bring about a greater national awareness of the need to address the challenges Indonesia faces in education and in nation building.
Let’s jointly declare 2008 the Year of Education for Indonesia.
Source: The Jakarta Post
January 3rd, 2008
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