CRI英语听力2013年02月（WORD文本）：HIGNEND-CATERING-BUSINESS-AFFECTED-BY-POLICY-PROMOTING-FRUGALITY_44.doc

1、In a nationwide survey by the China Dining Industry Association, high-end restaurants whose income mainly comes from business dinners fell by about 20 percent during the Spring Festival period.Liu Wei, a manager of a high-end restaurant in Beijing, says his business was affected.The number of busine

2、ss banquets booked by companies and organizations fell the most. Bookings for about 600 tables were cancelled. This caused a revenue loss of about 3 million yuan.Most high-end restaurants experienced a similar situation. Luxury foods like sharks fin soup and sea cucumbers, as well as expensive wines

3、, are no longer popular orders.This resulted in the cancellation of minimum consumption fees for the VIP room service by many of the high-end restaurants.To deal with the big change in customer flow, Liu Wei says his restaurant is considering removing its VIP dining rooms and setting up more tables

4、for individual diners.We will focus our business on individual customer sales, not like in the past when we were more interested in business banquets and even hoped to attract sales from government expenses.But some high-end restaurants believe the current high-end customer loss is temporary. Some s

5、ay it may take six months to a year to regain the lucrative business.Shi Wei, a manager of a consulting company that provides service for the high-end catering business, says the current policy may result in a reshuffling of Chinas high-end catering market.Some purely high-end restaurants can serve

6、people who enjoy more privacy and customized service. These restaurants may become more private.But Bian Jiang, assistant director of the China Dining Industry Association, doesnt agree.I dont think the catering industrys business will change a lot. Because of Chinas economic development, the proble

7、m of the over-consumption of luxury meals like business meals cant be solved in a short period of time. The market demand for high-end products is huge. Its a tradition.According to figures from the Ministry of Commerce, the revenue of high-end restaurants in Beijing dropped by 35 percent during the

8、 Spring Festival holiday. In Shanghai and Ningbo, the figures were down by 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively.Sales of birds nest, an expensive delicacy in China, dropped by about 40 percent, while sales of sharks fin soup, which the government has banned from official banquets, fell by more than 70 percent. Sales of high-end food packages in luxury hotels also dropped by 45 percent.For CRI, I am Li Dong.