TOURISM The campaign to boost a relatively new market is paying off
Building on small beginnings

Compared to other Asean nations, Brunei is still in its infancy in terms of tourism, although the industry is expanding rapidly. This year has been dubbed ‘Visit Brunei Year 2001’ by officials, a sign of the government’s intention to raise the country’s profile as a holiday destination. It is looking to increase the number of tourists to one million a year.
Currently, Malaysia leads the Asean field in terms of the number of visitors, followed closely by Thailand. In 1999, these two countries each attracted 10 million people, while Brunei registered just 636,605 arrivals.
Besides tourists from the Asean region, the UK tops the table of international travellers to the sultanate with 23,000 in 1999. Japan, which provides the Asean’s largest and most lucrative source of visitors, continues to form only a fraction of annual inbound tourists.

There are already signs that the government’s campaign is working. During the first quarter of this year, there were 247,000 arrivals including the first ever sizeable number of Russian and Australian tourists on charter flights.
Brunei officials are also working jointly with Malaysia to promote the three states on Borneo – Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak – to the potentially vast and increasingly affluent Chinese market.
The director general of Brunei Tourism, Sheikh Jamaluddin, says the sultanate is seeking to position itself as a first and last stop for Borneo and other nearby destinations and is aiming for more affluent visitors.
The Empire Hotel and Country Club, which caters for the high-end of the market, represents the jewel in the crown of the emerging tourism industry, he says.

The internationally-recognised 500-room hotel complex, which offers guests the ultimate in
luxury, is the flagship for promoting Brunei to the world. Its guests have included tourists, business people and even the former US President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea in recent years.
Pehin Dato Haji Abdul Rahman, chairman at hotel and country club, says that the emphasis on quality plays a vital role in the success of
Safe, clean and with a low crime rate, Brunei awaits discovery
the business. “If our services are really high class then people do not mind spending money. Everything hinges on service. You have to make people feel welcome.”
Sheikh Jamaluddin says that tourism presents an ideal opportunity to diversify the economy and offers a key source of employment, but the need to minimise the social and environmental impact remains equally important.

“We are not going to rush our tourism and we are not going into mass tourism. We have learnt from the mistakes of other countries where they tried to do things too quickly because they were seduced by the returns.
“Brunei is very safe and clean and the crime rate is low in comparison and we would like to keep it that way.”
He says there are parallels between Brunei and Dubai, which both offer a niche tourism product. Like Dubai, Brunei is making a bid to raise its profile by hosting international sporting events such as the South East Asian Games, the World Badminton Championships and the World Shooting Championships.

“Dubai is very similar to Brunei. We are both strict Islamic countries and about 10 years ago Dubai was a just piece of desert. But now it is booming because of its hospitality, which is their key strength.”
One of the main attractions in Brunei is its untouched rainforests and nature parks, where visitors can experience unique adventure holidays. However, the sultanate’s tour operators are responding to the needs of the new wave of tourists and are providing more activities, better shopping and more choice.