INDONESIA - launches 2008 tourism campaign to howls of protest

Indonesia launched its new Visit Indonesia 2008 (VI 2008) tourism campaign to howls of protest when eagle-eyed readers of the campaign’s Website and in-flight TV advertisements spotted grammatical errors.

The campaign slogan, inaugurated by Indonesian Tourism Minister Jero Wacik last week, is also plastered on Indonesia’s flag carrier Garuda planes, Website and on its promotional TV ads.

The country is embarking on the campaign to revive its flagging tourism industry which recorded a drop of 2.3 percent, or about four million foreign tourist arrivals, in 2006.
Critics have pointed out, the VI 2008 tourism tagline, “Celebrating 100 years of a nation's awakening,” should instead read “national” or be preceded by a definite article. The tagline refers to the founding of “Boedi Detomo” or “Noble Endeavour” by medical students in the then Dutch-ruled Indonesia.


>>full article