Saturday, 18 January 2020

The Opening Ceremony and Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
The joint tourism year initiative between Brunei Darussalam and the People’s Republic of China was officially launched in the Brunei capital of Bandar Seri Begawan on Friday 17 January 2020 at the Jerudong International School (JIS) Arts Centre. The event was attended by high-level officials of China and Brunei to mark the start of a one-year event in tourism cooperation.

Xi Jinping, President of China and Sultan Hassanal, His Majesty Sultan of Brunei Darussalam sent congratulatory messages respectively to the Opening Ceremony of the tourism year.

Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China HE Mr Zhang Xu read the congratulatory message from China from President Xi Jinping, where he said: “During the past two years, His Majesty and I successfully exchanged visits, and agreed to upgrade China-Brunei relations to a strategic cooperative partnership.”

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
In his message, Xi said China and Brunei are friendly neighbours across the sea, and mutually trusted friends and partners. Xi said in the past two years, he and Sultan Hassanal exchanged historic mutual visits and agreed to establish the China-Brunei strategic cooperative partnership. The two countries, he said, had also pledged to be good partners featuring mutual trust in politics, mutual benefit in the economy, mutual understanding in people-to-people and cultural exchanges, tourism cooperation and mutual assistance in multilateral affairs. The year of tourism is as an opportunity to be good friends treating each other with sincerity and good partners seeking common development.

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
“For friends, what is precious is mutual understanding. Brunei has always been an important link along the ancient maritime Silk Road. It is thanks to this maritime Silk Road that our ancestors started exchanges over 2,000 years ago (in China’s Western Han Dynasty), and our peoples have got to know each other and developed a close bond of friendship,” the President said in his message.

“Many beautiful stories of our exchanges are still being told today. I hope our two sides can take Brunei China Year of Tourism as a great opportunity to increase people-to-people and cultural exchanges as a sincere and good friend and a trusted partner for common development. I wish the 2020 Brunei China Year of Tourism a grand success,” he added.

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
The Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Haji Apong read out the congratulatory message from His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.

In the message, His Majesty said he was pleased to celebrate the Year of Tourism as it represented a new opportunity for both Brunei and China to further deepen their longstanding, warm and close friendship they had together that was based on the strong foundation of mutual trust, respect and understanding. He said Brunei and China, as strategic cooperative partners, have been continuously expanding new areas of mutually beneficial cooperation.

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
His Majesty in the message also stated that the tourism industry is an important sector in Brunei Darussalam’s economic diversification efforts. The People’s Republic of China is a valuable tourist market for Brunei Darussalam, which is further enhanced by the increase in connectivity with various cities across China.

Hassanal said he believes that the tourism departments of both countries will make full preparations to ensure a complete success of the year of tourism.

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
“I am happy that both our officials have made significant preparations to ensure this year-long event is a great success. This will strengthen economic growth, enhance our people-to-people exchanges, and bring mutual benefits to our countries. Brunei Darussalam will be proud to share its diverse cultural and traditional heritage as well as its pristine rainforests rich in flora and fauna that visitors can experience while in Brunei Darussalam,” said His Majesty in the message.

Chinese Ambassador to Brunei Mde Yu Hong made brief remarks at the Opening Ceremony.

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna, Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brunei attended the ceremony as the Guest of Honor and announced the opening of the Brunei-China Tourism Year 2020 by the striking of a ceremonial gong.

After the speeches, cultural performances of classical folk tunes and dances by Brunei and China were presented. The performances by China included ta cultural dance from the Hui race, China’s most populous Muslim race, along with traditional Chinese music show ‘Moonlit Night on the Spring River’. Brunei performed folk dances such as the Joget and the Jipin Tar onstage. The performances were organized by the China Arts and Entertainment Group.

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
Throughout the Year of Tourism, both Brunei and China will host a wide array of activities such as exhibitions, forums, training sessions and world cultural heritage presentations to further enhance cultural and tourism cooperation.

It is hoped that economic growth between Brunei and China will be boosted as a result of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020. Trade ties and relations between the two countries will be strengthened with the offering of opportunities to build wider business and trade connections. The Tourism Year will bring about more people-to-people interactions, cultural exchanges and bilateral collaborations.

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
The introduction of direct and increased air connectivity between the two countries, such as the newly launched route of Royal Brunei Airlines to Beijing will boost tourist traffic. Yang Berhormat Dato in his speech highlighted the connectivity between Brunei and the China that has expanded with flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Changsa, Nanning, Kunming, Hanhgzhou, Haikou and, most recently, Beijing.

According to Brunei's Tourism Development Department, China is one of the top source markets for tourist arrivals for Brunei with a recorded number of 43,000 arrivals from January to July 2019.

In 2018 Brunei received over 65,600 Chinese tourists in 2018, up more than 20 percent compared to 2017.

Launch of the Brunei-China Year of Tourism 2020
The China-Brunei Year of Tourism 2020 is sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Brunei's Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism, and the Chinese Embassy in Brunei.

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