Bandar Seri Begawan - In conjunction with the 9th Abacus Travel Fair, Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) officially launched TravelMania 2012 at the BRIDEX Exhibition Hall in Jerudong yesterday, which will conclude on October 7.

The main organiser of the travel exhibition is Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA), with support from City Neon Displays and Construction in the role of Event Manager and co-organiser of the event.

The guest of honour at the launch was Dato Paduka Awg Hj Mohd Roselan bin Hj Mohd Daud, Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office. Also in attendance were the Deputy Chairman of Royal Brunei Airlines, Dermot Mannion; Managing Director of City Neon Brunei, Dato Jack Ting; General Manager of Abacus Distribution Systems (B) Sdn Bhd, Ms Irene Soon; staff members of RBA and representatives of participating travel agencies.

The ceremony commenced with the mass recitation of Surah al-Fatihah and a doa selamat, followed by a welcoming speech from Dermot Mannion in which he expressed his enthusiasm towards the exhibition with the involvement of various travel agencies such as Brunei Tourism, Tourism Malaysia, Darussalam Holdings, Taiwan Visitors Association and more.

Dermot Mannion believes that the event is an indication of how vital the event is, not just for the Sultanate, but also for the greater region, especially with the participation of many tourism authorities.

He also expressed his warm welcome to Star Cruise's participation as they are becoming more active nowadays and he emphasised that cruises are the kind of business they want to encourage in tourism as well.

"We believe that holidays are more than simply getaways. We promise you that TravelMania 2012 will bring together more travel specialists, tour operators, cruises, hotels, airlines, national tourism offices from around the region and banks that will provide the best payment scheme for your holidays," he said.

During the three-day exhibition, travelling passengers might have the chance to win lucky draws. There will also be a grand draw where prizes include a return ticket to Melbourne, a return air ticket to Shanghai and a return air ticket to Manila.

During the travel exhibition, HSBC is also offering the opportunity to win 65,000 Royal Skies Miles with any purchases made at TravelMania via a HSBC debit card, and customers will be entitled to one lucky draw entry for every single receipt. Customers can visit the HSBC booth to complete and submit the lucky draw form. Otherwise, customers can also enjoy zero processing fees for six, 12, 18 or 24-month installment plans for any transactions made between Oct 5 and 7.