Lyna Mohamad
Brunei tourist arrivals to Malaysia showed a positive growth of 87,038 as of September 2022, compared to 2021 when it recorded only 773 arrivals, new Director of Tourism Malaysia (TM) Brunei Hazrina binti Azman said at a networking event ‘Cuppa Coffee’ with local travel agents and Sarawak Tourism Board representatives.
Malaysian High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam, Dato’ Raja Reza bin Raja Zaib Shah was also in attendance.
Dato’ Raja Reza highlighted a recent meeting between His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim where the two leaders agreed to further strengthen their bilateral relations including tourism.
The Malaysian high commissioner called on local travel agents to be more innovative and to stay relevant.
Dato’ Raja Reza said the total Malaysia-Brunei trade last year saw an encouraging growth with MYR13.22 billion compared to MYR8.03 billion in 2021.
He added that Sarawak will open the Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office (STATO) in the Sultanate this year which will be the second STATO to be established by the state government with the first set up in Singapore in 2019.
Sarawak also plans to promote Borneo tourism using Brunei International Airport as the hub through joint tourism promotion activities.
Meanwhile, Hazrina shared that last year, TM Brunei participated in a number of programmes, adding that it intends to join more activities such as seminars, farm trips and exhibitions this year while continuing to explore more avenues to expand collaboration and partnership.
