Bruneian Artistes Dance In Front Of The Brunei Darussalam Booth In
The Pavilion Of Cities Of Charm At The Nanning International Convention And Exhibition Centre In Nanning

Board To Appoint Reps In Select Countries To Reach Target Groups

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Brunei Tourism Board is set to appoint foreign marketing representatives in China and other countries to help boost tourism in the Sultanate.

Sheikh Jamaluddin Mohamed, Director of Brunei Tourism Development, who revealed the information during an interview, said, "We will soon appoint a marketing representative in China - a Chinese company in China - to help us reach the target groups more specifically.

"We have shortlisted a few companies, so we would be appointing one really soon. We are also going to appoint one for Australia, one to cover Europe, and one to cover Asean countries. That means I will have my appointed marketing agencies, which are locally registered companies in the target market.

"Instead of relying on our own contacts or our own embassies/high commissions, we will have companies who should know their local tour operators, and they will know which tour operators are promoting Southeast Asia, so they can target those tour operators. They can also help me to organise roadshows."

So, it will be "big time for Brunei Tourism once we've appointed our marketing agencies. It will open up a lot of doors for us", he said in Nanning.

Speaking about the Brunei Tourism booth at the 6th China-Asean Expo, which features Bruneian artistes performing traditional dances, he said: "They dance and show the culture, because everybody knows what Brunei is, but they don't know exactly where we are. So when tourists want to go on holidays, they all want to go to London, New York, Paris, but once they've done all that, where can they go? That's when they'll think of Southeast Asia and say, 'hey, we know where Brunei is'.

"Every year we have more than 28,000 Chinese visitors. We want to get mote, but we have to be realistic also (about the facilities that we have) like the number of hotel rooms that we have.

"Every year we come to China about four times for different shows, this is just one of them. China is a very important market, we're happy we have our private sector with us here," he added.

When asked if he thought the booth would help boost Brunei tourism, he said "Definitely, because they all want to see what Asean is all about, and they will see what Brunei is about. There's a brochure at the booth, I have my officials manning the booth all the time, and we entertain the crowd with some traditional dancing. The best we can do is to create greater awareness as tourism is all about creating awareness, it's just about giving people the opportunity to know where we are, and what they can do in Brunei. It's a never-ending game.

"I believe from next year onward we will see improvement (in arrivals). We've got a big increase from China in terms of percentage of visitors.

"We are excited about tourism because it's the biggest job creator. That's why Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand all put tourism on the top of their priority list.

"Also, when tourists come from countries like China and Japan, they have to change their money to Brunei dollars, so that means it's boosting the government foreign exchange reserve. This is why tourism is also regarded as an export industry, like. We export our oil to get the US dollars.

"When the Americans and British come to Brunei, we get the foreign currency. This is why it is such a strategic industry. Sometimes it's easy to forget, it's easy to just focus on industries that you can see, like oil, gas, export and import, but (tourism) is all bit people travelling" he said.

The Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri SetiaAwg Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar, visited the booth a day before the opening of the 6th CAEXPO.

Sheikh Jamaluddin said: "The minister looked visibly pleased after we gave him and the Chinese officials a good welcome to our booth."-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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Beware and be careful
written by concern , October 22, 2009

Before the Tourism Board go ahead, please be aware of the ills that foreigners will bring to Brunei. Brunei is doing well without any negative activities in Brunei. The kids are growing in a clean, healthy and happy environment. Lets keep it that way

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Where's Brunei
written by student , October 22, 2009

When I studied overseas one of my friends ask me where I'm from I said Brunei. They don't know and never heard of Brunei at all. I was so embarrassed. Next time when they ask me I'll just say Malaysia. Hey, Brunei and Malaysia share the same Borneo island right? I'm just telling a white lie.

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...
written by Bruneian , October 22, 2009

If someone ask where we come from just tell them the true .
Just say it with proud that we're from Brunei and mention about Borneo..they will know about that fact.

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