RBA, Tourism Malaysia ink joint marketing deal

ROYAL Brunei Airlines (RBA) and Tourism Malaysia yesterday signed a marketing deal to spur tourist arrivals in Brunei and Malaysia.

"We see tourism as a collaborative effort, and not competitive," Tourism Malaysia Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen told reporters after the signing ceremony which took place during Malaysia's National Tourism Organisation briefing at the Bridex Centre in Jerudong.

In a brief interview with The Brunei Times, Ng said Malaysia was banking on RBA's accessibility while Tourism Malaysia, would take up more of the promotion effort to draw in visitors.

"We chose to work with Brunei because Brunei is accessible. Malaysia has a lot of international tourists but they don't come to Brunei. They go direct route to KK (Kota Kinabalu) or Kuching. If they come (to these destinations), why not come to Brunei?" she said.

Under the deal, the two will target international tourists coming to Brunei and encourage them to go to Malaysia and the tourists going to Malaysia to go to Brunei. Apart from that, the joint promotional activities were also hoped to draw in Brunei citizens and expatriates to go to Malaysia.

The Malaysian tourism minister shared that they will be working out the incentive scheme to encourage tourists to visit the other destination that was not the tourist's primary chosen destination.

"Honestly, we foresee that more international tourists will come to Brunei more than to Malaysia through this deal," she told The Brunei Times.

The arrangement was part and parcel of the recent initiative to revive the Heart of Borneo tour packages, following years of delay of the joint promotion package of marketing Sabah, Sarawak, Labuan together with Brunei, Ng said.

Brunei's Minister of Industry and Primary Resources Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar had said the two countries were looking into the proposal of the joint promotion of a single Borneo package.

According to a Tourism Malaysia press statement yesterday, the joint marketing programme "sets a platform to develop and implement joint marketing, sales and promotional programmes". Agreement on areas related to the joint promotional activities will also be discussed, said the statement.

The cost of the activities will be shared by both parties, it added.

"Tour agents will be drawn from the preferred agent of Tourism Malaysia and Royal Brunei Airlines. The selected tour agents must have a proven track record of success in generating tourist arrivals to Borneo," the statement said.

RBA already works with the Sabah and Sarawak Tourism Boards to promote destinations and tourism products. RBA has code sharing agreement with Malaysian Airlines on flights between Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) and Kuala Lumpur as well as between BSB and KK, and BSB and Kuching.

"The cooperation bears testimony to the commitment and initiative of both organisations in boosting tourist arrivals between Malaysia and Brunei," the Tourism Malaysia statement said.

Brunei is Malaysia's fourth highest tourist generating country within Asean, with 1.06 million visits by Bruneians to Malaysia recorded last year. However, this was a 2.2 per cent drop from the previous year, which recorded 1.08 million Bruneians visits to Malaysia in 2008.

RBA's Senior Vice President of Commercial-Sales and Marketing, Wong Peng Hoon signed for the national carrier, while signing on behalf of Tourism Malaysia was its Director-General Dato Mirza Mohammad Taiyab.

Brunei's Second Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Dewa Dato Seri Setia Lim Jock Seng and Ng witnessed the signing ceremony. Ubaidillah Masli The Brunei Times