Brunei Eyes 14% Increase In Tourist Arrivals Published: Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer of the Brunei Tourism Board.
Wednesday 27 January 2010, Brunei Muara – Brunei is eyeing a 14 per cent annual increase in its 2010 inbound tourist figures, a higher target than the 10 per cent rise that government's tourism executives previously announced.
Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed, chief executive officer of the Brunei Tourism Board, said yesterday that the inbound tourist figures slipped in 2009.
Only 119,540 arrivals were recorded January to September last year compared to of 225,757 in the same period in 2008.
He said he expected the 2009 numbers to pick up once figures from the last quarter are tallied.
"In 2008, we initially targeted a seven per cent increase and then doubled it to 14 per cent halfway through. At the end of 2008 we had achieved 26 per cent increase in arrivals, but we are targeting a 14 per cent increase for 2010," he said.
Sheikh Jamaluddin, however, said that these figures did not take into account entry into the country by land or sea transport such as driving across the border or cruise ship arrivals. "This is only for airport arrival. If I include (arrivals) by car from Sabah and Sarawak, then there will be a lot more," he said.
Asked why the other methods of tourism entry were not recorded, Sheikh Jamaluddin explained that this was all he could do until the relevant immigration authorities get their system up and running.
"I have had a lot of talks and arguments about this because I would rather not use my data but theirs ... but at the moment, their system can't do this. (Currently) I need to have my people counting the cards you fill in when you land in Brunei, one by one," he said, adding that he lacked the resources to count entry cards outside of airline arrivals.
"When (immigration) gets their act correctly and I would be able to just press a button and get the statistics, I would love to include all access via boats, cars and airlines. But at the moment, they can't help me," he added.
This, however, he explained might not be entirely a bad thing.
"I am not interested in figures to make me look good. I just want to get information that I can work with. I want to know how many serious tourists we get because I think only serious tourists travel by planes," he said.
"I have many relatives who come to Brunei by crossing the border on land but they only stay for a couple of days before leaving. They don't stay in hotels but the World Tourism Organisation defines those who enter a country for more than one day and less than one year, without working, as tourists," he added.
He said the case is completely different with cruise ship arrivals, which are growing. "You cannot classify cruise ship arrivals as tourists because they come in the morning and leave in the evening but they still come over and buy things," he said.~Courtesy of The Brunei Times
Disclaimer: The information presented and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources
