Barriers to Brunei tourism identified

Leo Kasim
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

POOR public transportation has been identified as one of the main impediments to Brunei's tourism industry, according to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in its Tourism Working Group (TWG) report.

The recently-released 122-page report, entitled "Business Growth Opportunities in the New APEC Economy", stated that "poor public transport services and limited aviation connectivity are the key infrastructure issues in Brunei, with improved policies regarding landing rights seen as one of the potential solutions".

The report pointed out that Brunei, along with Papua New Guinea, "receive(s) small visitor numbers from neighbouring countries".

In terms of tourism labour adequacy, the report stated that Brunei together with countries such as Australia and Canada is of a concern. It attributes this to a general issue wherein other sectors of the economy are growing stronger than the tourism industry.

It also identified Brunei's lack of manpower in the hospitality industry as another issue. "Many private sector commentators expressed a desire to have a greater supply of skilled staff, especially managerial and hospitality staff that appear to be in short supply in parts of the APEC region. Mexico, Chile, Brunei and Peru all referenced human resource availability as an impediment," said the report.

The report also identified limited business ownership as an issue that works against Brunei's tourism activities. In the Sultanate, priority is given to local interests and there is limited foreign ownership of tourism businesses in the country, the report noted.

According the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB), a sole proprietorship business setup in Brunei is not open to foreigners.

The report also stated that Brunei faced visa issues associated "with a number of high growth economies and also significant requirements for business visas".

According to the report, Brunei has suggested for "increased visa on arrival to mitigate the constraints".

The need for an improved public transportation system has been raised numerous of times with the government working on ways to tackle the issue.

In a June 2012 report by The Brunei Times, Ministry of Communications (MinComm) Deputy Permanent Secretary Abdul Mutalib Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Setia Hj Mohd Yusof acknowledged that a holistic approach was required to boost tourism in the country. This would entail the creation of a Land Transport Masterplan that would cover areas such as road space allocation, identification of major transport corridors and route safeguarding, he said.

The Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies has also highlighted that the transport masterplan is linked to land use, with Senior Researcher Dr Diana Cheong saying that transport solutions should support land use wisely.

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times