Bandar Seri Begawan - Poor publicity has led to a "disappointing" turnout at the BIMP-EAGA Expo, exhibitors yesterday said.

The foot traffic at the exposition, held at the International Convention Centre in Berakas, was looking lacklustre with very few visitors seen around the exhibition area since the expo opened on August S.

"I really think it's the lack of advertisement, people are not aware that there is an expo held here," said Pg Hj Zulkifli Pg Hj Jambol, project supervisor at Brunei Tourism. He said that from the first day until yesterday, their booth only recorded less than 20 visitors.

He assumed the public might have had thought that there was only a BIMP-EAGA conference and not an expo.

"Probably they did not have any idea that there are local products available. As far as they know, it's just a meeting," he said.

Another participating exhibitor, who was expecting a "big hit" at the exhibition, was Selestial Marine Sdn Bhd, formerly Innatech (B) Sdn Bhd.

Company representative, Commander (Rtd) Adri Juliann Abdullah, said the outcome of the exhibition was disappointing. "The set-up and everything was time consuming without any positive result at all. We were expecting a larger crowd," he said.

He said the exhibition completely lacked publicity.

"We are here to support the Ports Department who invited us to join and we are happy to do so," Commander (Rtd) Adri added.

"It was embarrassing. We had a lot of foreign exhibitors who invested so much for this (the expo), only to find that they gained nothing in return." added another representative of the company who wanted to remain anonymous.

A sales representative from Mahkota Crystal Sdn Bhd who wanted to be known as Adi, also blamed the lack of advertisement.

"Maybe with more advertisement, the public would have been more aware of the expo." He said.

Adi. however, remained optimistic towards the end of the exhibition.
At first, we thought was because of the haze, but then we saw more people at the Food Festival taking place nearby, which is more of an exposed area ... so it could not be the haze," said a TelBru representative, who opted for anonymity.

She also agreed that the exhibition was not publicised enough. "It is really disappointing as we were expecting a large turnout," she said, adding that she hoped to see more people in the next two days.

The BIMP-EAGA exposition ends tomorrow.

-- Courtesy of Brunei Times

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