Tourism Shines for Brunei

Special interest rules, such as driving and walking trails, are pulling strong travel demand from around the world, and now Brunei is casting her eyes on business events, discovers S Puvaneswary.

This year, the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism is targeting 300,000 foreign air arrival in the sultanate of Brunei.

For the first quarter of 2019, air arrivals to the Sultanate totalled 81,17, a 14.8% increase from the corresponding period in 2019 which totalled 278,136. Contributing factors are due to the high impact of travel demand from the Far East, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

The top 10 inbound markets in the first quarter 2019 where: China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, the UK, Singapore, Australia, India and Japan.

The average length of stay of tourists to Brunei in the first quarter was 2.46 days.

Air connectivity to major market China was improved with Royal Brunei Airline’s full weekly direct flights to Beijing. launched in October 2019. In January 2020, these flights will become daily.

In July 2019, Royal Brunei Airlines resumed its non-stop services to Brisbane Australia. This route was suspended in 2011.

Over the last two years, the Tourism Development Department has created various tourist package, ranging from river cruising in Tutong and soft adventure tours in Temburong, to walking trails in Bandar Seri Begawan and cultural tours in Belait, to attract international travellers. Diving, in particular, has been gaining traction among travellers interested in Brunei's underwater wreck sites and tropical waters.

Attention has now been expanded to include business events. Some major events that have taken place in the Sultanate include Brunei Halal Showcase 2019 which was organized by the Ministry of Energy, Manpower and Industry to further develop and expand the local Halal industry, and Asia Expo 2019 organized by Cityneon Brunei to link local and foreign businesses while giving overseas companies an opportunity to explore Brunei's market.

Brunei’s business events capability will be further testing this week for ASEAN Tourism Forum 2020, an event that is attended by high-ranking tourism officials from across South-east Asia as well as travel and tourism industry decision-makers.

*Source TTG Official Show Daily, ATF 2020, Issue 1

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