Wake-Up Call To The Tourism Sector
By Fei phoon

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei Darussalam maybe left behind from the growth of Southeast Asia's travel and tourism industry if the tourism sector does not take swift action immediately.

An extensive 10-year economic forecast produced last year by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) forecast that Brunei Darussalam's travel and tourism (T&T) industry would be among the lowest in demand in the Southeast Asian region. The report, which defines Southeast Asia as comprising all 10 Asean member countries as well as Papua New Guinea, valued Brunei's share of the world T&T market at 0.0 percent last year, with a future growth rate of 2.9 per cent per annum between this year and 2016.

An extrapolation on trends in Southeast Asia's T&T industry, beginning in 1988, predicted a steady rise from 3.6 per cent at the start of 2005 to nearly 4 per cent next year.

Projections -on aggregate economic growth rate placed Southeast Asia at a competitive third in the world, out of 13 global regions.

Brunei was ranked as having one of the slowest growth rates in the world.

Out of the 174 participant nations in the study, Brunei was projected to stand at just 167 for the next several years, the lowest-ranking of the Southeast Asian countries.

Brunei's T&T industry has suggested a nominal increase on a contribution of 3.3 per cent to its national GDP last year, to 3.4 per cent (of $592.2 million) in nine years' time.

At the other end of the latter scale is Vietnam, ranked sixth fastest-growing in the world with a T&T industry calculated to be worth $5.6 billion in the "same year Southeast Asian T&T was expected to generate economic activity worth $361.2 billion last year, and to eventually arrive at $800.7 billion by 2016 at a rate of 5.7 per cent a year.

Within the same projected period, the number of jobs directly involved with the T&T industry is anticipated to rise from more than eigll-million in total to more than, 10 million for Southeast Asia, and from the 8,000 recorded in 2006 to 10,000 for Brunei.

Changes are also expected in consumer habits, as expenditure on personal travel and tourism as well as business travel by residents of the region is expected to more than double by 2016.

Notably in terms of data source confidence and forecast, margin of error, this analysis on Brunei was tagged as being subject to "high uncertainty and/or with limited access to data".

A nationally-accredited analysis for 2006 foreign arrival statistics in Brunei has yet to be released.

WTTC's statistics for the report were drawn from information provided by the World Tourism Organisation and the International Monetary Fund.

The report is just one of the hundreds produced annually by WITC's Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounting (TSA) research programme, a collaboration between the WTTC and Oxford Economic Forecasting to assist governments in nurturing the global tourism industry.

Last year, the body received sponsorship from leading management consultancy firm accenture.

WTTC's TSA reports are recognised by the United Nations as a standardised measurement of travel and tourism's economic impact.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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