BRUNEI: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) is pushing hard to generate more tourism traffic from the sultanate.
At the recent Sabre Travel Fair here it brought to bear the breathtaking beauty and rich cultural heritage of Sarawak, sparking enthusiasm among potential travellers.
STB along with Borneo Medical Centre (BMC) and Freme Travel aimed to recharge and strengthen Sarawak’s presence in the Brunei market, foster business collaborations and update the region’s Culture, Adventure, Nature, Food and Festivals (CANFF) offerings.
“Sarawak Tourism Board aims to create more travel conversions from Brunei, which has been one of Sarawak’s traditional target markets due to its proximity and thriving cross-border tourism between Brunei and Miri,” said STB Deputy Chief Executive Officer Suriya Charles Buas.
“We are solidifying our tourism presence here and looking to expand on our other multifaceted CANFF and health tourism offerings the region of Sarawak can offer repeat and new travellers from Brunei.”
She said many visitors to the fair expressed interest in travelling to Kuching and Mulu.
In terms of tourism recovery for the Brunei market, she explained that there had been significant growth in visitor arrivals after the pandemic, with 848,075 visitor arrivals recorded during the January to August 2023 period, surpassing 2019 levels.
“Sarawak has enjoyed a faster recovery in terms of visitor arrivals from the Brunei market, and STB aims to top our highest visitor arrivals from 2017-2023 which was 1,205,581 in 2017.”
Meanwhile Borneo Medical Centre (BMC), offered a wide range of healthcare services at the fair, and also offered special discounts and lucky draw prizes to visitors of the fair.
“We believe that participation in this fair is a great way to reach out to our patients and introduce them to our services.” said medical director of Borneo Medical Centre Miri, Kenny Yeap.
Freme Travel, the leading travel agency in Brunei, offers outbound and inbound tours, leisure travel services and corporate adventure team building.
According to Freme Travel managing director, Michael Lee, in its 52-year journey, the agency has built and maintained a stellar reputation for providing reliable and professional services.
“As a result, we are widely recognised as the most innovative travel agency in Brunei Darussalam.
“We are very happy to be working with Sarawak Tourism Board in highlighting Sarawak’s many attractions as a premier ecotourism destination, as we offer enticing travel packages that showcase the best of Sarawak,” he said.
