By Azian Othnan & Laila Rahman
Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei tourism is embarking on a branding exercise to be done by a Thai firm and is set to produce quality materials, launch a new web site as well. as run an advertisement campaign in print and electronic media.
It is also looking at two international events to boost tourism in the Sultanate. Brunei will play host to Asean golf tour in June this year. it will also take part in the first ever international luxury travel market in Cannes, France in December.
Speaking to a group of officials from Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, Sheikh Jamaluddin, Director of Tourism, also said that this year's work programme also includes familiarisation trips for the media and industry, participation in travel and tourism trade shows and appointment of public and marketing representatives.
`Brunei is positioning itself for a joint tourism vacation with Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bali or Dubai, to be a gateway to Borneo and East Asia as well as a stopover destination on the Europe, North Asia and Middle East route to and from Australia and New Zealand.
"The country is also projecting itself as an upmarket exotic ecotourism, cultural and golfing destination, a refreshing and relaxing getaway and be a strong component in the Borneo vacation," he said.
Sheikh Jamaluddin added, Brunei's marketing goals are to dispel common misconceptions about the country, to present Brunei to the markets as more than a stopover destination and to position it as a unique tourist destination in the international tourism market place.
The target market segments are discerning, mature, experienced travelers, nature lovers, special interest tourists, honeymooners especially from Korea, tranquility seekers, families with kids, transit passengers as well as for incentive meetings, and Convention and Exhibition (MICE) tourists.
Besides attending the travel market in Cannes, other trade fairs which Brunei will attend this year include Sunday Mail Escape Expo in Brisbane in April, Arabian Travel Market in Dubai (May), Incentive & Meetings Expo in Frankfurt (May), International Travel Expo in Hong Kong (June), MATTA International Travel Fair in Kuala Lumpur (October), PATA Travel Mart in Bangkok (September) and JATA World Travel Fair in Tokyo (September).
He said that an estimated 300,000 tourists are coming to Brunei annually. However, tourism's contribution to the country's GDP is still insignificant.
"The government knows the potential of the tourism industry judging by its global contribution. World tourism contributed to 700 million arrivals in 2003 with receipts of US$514 billion and the market share up from 11% to 30.34%. Arrivals will go up to 1.8 billion by 2020," he added.
The KPMG five-year masterplan indicates that tourism would contribute to 11,000 new jobs if a country could achieve one million tourists and revenues of around $250 million, taking into account the daily tourist expenditure of $159-$316.
Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
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