Brunei tourism is up by a few notches

By Danial Norjidi

Brunei Tourism is set to go through a very important period in January next year, as the country will be hosting the Asean Tourism Forum for the second time.

"It will be good year for me," Chief Executive Officer of the Brunei Tourism Board, Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed (photo above), said, "because in January next year we'll have our chance to be hosts of the Asean Tourism Forum for the second time."

According to the CEO, 1,500 tourism executive officers will be coming from all over the world.

"This will be big time for Brunei Tourism. We can boast about our strengths, nature, our rainforests, our people, safety and security.

"We have appointed Travel Tourism Gazette (TTG) Asia as event organisers of the Asean Tourist Forum," he added. "TTG has a wide marketing reach in the world, so they will definitely help promote Brunei.

"There really isn't anything that could pose us problems - the only problem is H1N1," said the CEO. "Diseases and mother nature are the only things that could spoil this.

"A good point, however, is that the world economy is currently on the rise. Australia, for example, is showing a lot of positive moves," he said.

"The government is excited about tourism because it provides jobs," he added. "If you open a hotel, you need maybe 200 people to work in it. It's not just people with degrees who keep hotels running, but also people with O Levels.

"Tourism in Brunei has already been taken up another notch by two new products: the Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourism Gallery (KACTG) and the Mangrove Paradise Resort," he said. "I hope that the Mangrove Paradise resort will be an eye opener to our private sector to encourage them to get involved in Brunei Tourism."

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
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