Bandar Seri Begawan - More holidaymakers are taking advantage of the December school break to travel compared with last year, travel agents have told The Brunei Times.

An increase of at least 20 per cent on last year's figures is expected, as many people rushed to take advantage of cheap airfare deals offered at a travel fair last month, said Foo CP, general manager of Century Travel Centre.

The travel industry is currently enjoying an uptick in business as many Bruneians had put their travel plans on hold when news of Influenza A (H1N1) was first reported in the first half of the year, Foo said.

He said that H1N1 had a bigger impact on the industry than the global financial crisis, with 45 per cent of losses attributed to the disease compared with five per cent due to the economic downturn.

"I think people are now well-prepared for H1N1. They know how to look after their personal hygiene," he said, adding that travellers are more careful.

Foo added that there were no signs of travellers avoiding visits to cold countries, as it was earlier believed that the H1N1 virus was affected by variations in temperatures. "We still have people travelling to London," he said.

Regarding travel closer to home, Foo said that most Brunei travellers are still heading to destinations within the region, including Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok and Indonesia.

'Plights to Manila are also fully booked because a lot of foreign workers are going home for Christmas," he added.

Foo said that 50 to 60 per cent of the travellers preferred to use national carrier Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) for their destinations, as it is the major airline leaving from Brunei.

"RBA has seen a bit of an improvement as it has rescheduled and increased its flights to major destinations and it is doing well in the sense that it has transit passengers," he said, adding that the airline is expected to fare well with better routes and schedules next year.

Many travellers are also using Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines, he added.

A general manager of another established travel agency said that she has seen a 40 per cent increase in airline passengers compared with last year.

Most of the flights offered by the agency, including flights to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong, are fully booked in December, said the general manager, who declined to be named.

She also said that travellers are taking the opportunity to travel during the school holidays as many avoided travelling when H1N1 broke out.

"Nov, people are not that concerned about H1N1 because they are well-informed about the virus, and as long as they are careful and take precautions," said the general manager, whose travel agency has four branches in the country.

She added that there were also a number of people travelling to London, China and Japan.

However, a representative from Ken Travel & Trading said that there was little difference between the number of people travelling during the month long school break compared with last year, as December has always been the peak season.

"It is almost the same every year," she said, adding that most holidaymakers prefer using RBA, even though Singapore Airlines offered a cheaper deal from the Sultanate to the city-state.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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