SARS Hits Borneo Tourism Drive Suffers Second Setback
By Azlan Othman

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei's joint effort with Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan in promoting Borneo as a single destination has suffered a setback with the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The effect of the deadly SARS, which has badly hit the Asian region, is more severe than the 9/11 incident and the Iraq crisis, said Sheikh Jamaluddin, Director of Tourism Development and Industrial Promotion, in an interview with the Bulletin yesterday.

Brunei's tourism players including Royal Brunei Airlines and travel agents returned from Brisbane, Australia, early April after promoting the island of Borneo as a single destination to the Aussies.

"We projected Borneo as 'value-for-money' destination for the Aussies. The last time we promoted Borneo as a single destination back in 1997, haze engulfed our region. Now, it's SARS. We sometimes do not get it right," lamented the tourism chief.

He said SARS has cost the tourism industry in this region hundreds of millions of dollars. The effect of SARS has been very bad so far, which has seen some local travel agents suffering 100 per cent cancellations, added Sheikh Jamaluddin.

"People have just stopped traveling at the moment. However, to date, there is no SARS case in Brunei. I applaud the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Health and for being transparent on SARS. However, there's nothing much that we can do until the World Health Organisation (WHO) announces the day when it's safe to travel again," he added.

Asked on the effects of the Iraqi crisis to the country's tourism industry, he said that the Iraq crisis was not as bad as SARS. We still managed to attract visitors from Korea and People's Republic of China. "The effect of Iraq crisis has been very mild. In fact the war did not affect the country's effort in promoting tourism at all," he said.

He added that Brunei's tourism players would head for Dubai in May to take part in the Arabian Travel Mart. "This will be our own individual project and not a joint effort," he said.

"With the SARS outbreak affecting the region and Brunei as well, this is the time for me to concentrate more on domestic activities such as working together with other ministries to keep the country clean and tidy especially the infrastructure including (public) toilets, the river and so on," Sheikh Jamaluddin said.

SARS outbreak has caused Royal Brunei Airlines to suspend flights due to a significant drop in passenger demand. The airline recently announced that the cancellations had represented a 14 per cent drop in total capacity.  (Courtesy Of Borneo Bulletin)

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