Brunei's Tourism Drive Bearing Fruit

Brunei Darussalam's effort to promote its tourism industry is beginning to bear fruit.

This observation was made by the Director-General of Brunei Tourism Board, Sheikh Jamaluddin, when he learnt that the Sultanate was the second top place to visit for Australians in 2008, according to Australia's Flight Direct.

Flight Centre said that the tiny nation of Brunei offers "a unique blend of modem refinement, scenic allure, cultural reverence and majestic opulence for the discerning traveler".

The list is based on the company's top-selling destination data, showing the countries that have consistently gained popularity over the past 12 months.

According to Sheikh Jamaluddin, promoting tourism is very important.

"It's like spending money to drill an oilfield where you can see the outcome at the later stage," he said, adding that Brunei tourism officials go to at least three trade shows in Australia on a yearly basic including Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.

Meanwhile, latest figures from Brunei's Tourism Board show that Australians were the second largest group of tourists who visited the Sultanate this year. There has been an 87 per cent increase in the number of Australian tourists travelled to Brunei between the period of January and June 2008 compared last year's figures.

RBA's transit data figures show that between the period of April and September 2008, some 42,000 people from Australia transited at Brunei International Airport compared to 26,000 in the same period last year.