Brunei - Asean tourism meet tackles security, promotion of region

Five proposed projects, including one that covers hotel security in the region and another that seeks to promote Asean as a tourist destination, were tackled during the Asean Tourism Working Groups Meeting, representatives of Brunei to the meeting said.

Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed (pictured), Brunei Tourism Development director and CEO of the Brunei Tourism Board, said that progress was made on several of the initiatives during the meeting.

The Asean Tourism Working Groups Meeting, which was held in the Sultanate, ended Wednesday.

"There are five proposed projects for next year, and we went through it project by project and endorsed (them). We made some cuts here and there but overall, all the projects were taken on board," said Sheikh Jamaluddin.

For hotel security, he said that guidelines on how to secure hotels against security threats such as terrorism were discussed.

"I will pass this to the Hotel Association of Brunei, so they can also put it under their standard operating procedures," said Sheikh Jamaluddin.

He added that even though properties would already have their own security systems in place, "you can never be too careful".

Also discussed during the marketing working group meetings was the plan to market Asean as a single tourism destination, said Jean-Christophe Robles Espinosa, director of marketing and promotions at the Brunei Tourism Board.

"There is a marketing plan with a timeline and proposals of projects along those lines, so I guess that is going ahead," he said.

He said that the strategy for promoting Asean as a tourist destination "will not be the classical type of multi-million dollar promotion that can be used on the back of existing promotions", but would make use of the Internet and social media.

He added that the objective was to try and get people to come from outside of the region into Asean.

"We support this idea so we will see how that plan is a part of achieving these objectives, and as a part of achieving our own national objectives," he said.

Asked if the limited direct flight connections in the Sultanate would affect plans to get more tourists into the country, Espinosa said: "In the bigger picture, we're still connected to quite a number of destinations and we're quite well connected to a number of Asean destinations".

He added that Brunei was connected to major hubs such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

The idea of bringing people into the region to visit multiple locations would depend mostly on the larger airlines and the hubs which have the most connections to other places in the world, he added.

Thematic travel circuits were also discussed in the marketing working groups, said Espinosa.

For instance, as the Islamic trail between Malaysia and Brunei could be promoted, he said.

"People interested in this kind of thing could then follow the trail, or for example if you're interested in apes, you could go to areas of Southeast Asia where you have gibbons, orangutans, proboscis monkeys."

He noted that the strongest themes would have something to do with heritage, nature, and the Malay culture. Activities like golf and diving could also be links, he added.

Other projects that were discussed during the meeting was the marketing of a new brand, "Southeast Asia- Feel the Warmth".

Ying Chia

The Brunei Times

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