Hoteliers welcome policy on use of Chinese characters

Hoteliers welcome policy on use of Chinese characters

JAKARTA (JP): Hotels in Jakarta and Surabaya welcome the
government's move to permit them to print brochures in Chinese,
although the larger establishments say Chinese-speaking visitors
make up a small percentage of their patrons.

The policy would give hoteliers a choice of whether or not to
extend the market to Chinese-speaking visitors, said Riza A.
Suryo, Public Relations Director of Jakarta's Shangri-La Hotel.

It is particularly beneficial to hotels which already have
strong markets in Taiwan and China, Riza told The Jakarta Post
yesterday.

"But we still need time to evaluate whether we should go for
it ... we have to adapt to the market, not produce one," he said,
adding that Shangri-La's guests, which mostly came from
Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Europe, were mainly English-
speaking communities.

Lolita Larasati, Public Relations Executive of Patra Hilton
International Hotel in Surabaya, said she was optimistic the new
policy would boost the flow of Chinese-speaking tourists, since
relations between Chinese-speaking business people and
Indonesians are picking up, especially in the fields of trade.

"But we don't know when, or whether we will, apply the new
policy because our market is directed towards Japan and
Europe ... and those from China and Taiwan make up an
insignificant percentage of our guests," she said.

Linawati, Guest Relations and Public Relations officer of the
Garden Palace Hotel in Surabaya, shared a similar view, saying
that Chinese brochures and programs would be very helpful if they
decided to promote the hotel in China or Taiwan.

"It really depends on the hotel's policy as to where it
intends to expand," she said, adding that English publications
were sufficient for promotion in Southeast Asian countries.

Not all hotel officials are enthusiastic about the
government's new ease on the Chinese language.

Riana Djuzman, Senior Public Relations Officer of the Mandarin
Oriental in Jakarta, said the hotel's Chinese-speaking guests
make up less than one percent of the total guests.

"It won't have a significant impact on us... English and
Indonesian brochures are enough," she said.

Front Office Supervisor of Medan's Dirga Surya Hotel Desi
Febrianti also considered that for most of the hotel's guests,
English so far was sufficient and the policy would not be
effective as yet. (pwn)