PROGRESS in terms of receiving visitors is coming along nicely for Kg Sg Matan, the village head said, yesterday.
In a January 2012 report, Pg Hj Abdul Rahman Pg Hj Zainal set a target of 7,700 visitors for the year 2012.
In an interview, he said that about 5,000 comprising local and foreign tourists have visited the fishing village so far, which is more than halfway mark.
"Our target could be achieved for 2012, because there are already bookings made from about 2,000 Korean tourists during the upcoming November and December period although some have yet to confirm it," he told The Brunei Times.
Recently, about 400 tourists stayed overnight at the village, he said.
"Most of them are from Thailand, while the others are from Nigeria, Lesotho, Singapore and Sabah," he said adding that there were also a lot of visits from bankers coming through from the Asian Banker Summit in Thailand last April.
The river cruise and the homestay programme comes up as the most popular of the packages, he shared.
On top of that, the fasting month of Ramadhan has not slowed down business activity.
"Although this is the fasting month, the influx of visitors has remained the same as before," he said.
"It is also a challenge for us because we still have to run activities such as dances and other traditional performances, otherwise the tourists would experience the same thing," added Pg Hj Abdul Rahman.
Kg Sg Matan is one of the more popular destinations under the Tourism Development Department's Kenali Negara Kitani, loosely translated to Know Your Country (KNK) initiative.
The Matan Homestay programme and Matan Fishing Village are the village's flagship products under the One Village One Product programme.
The products have also become a successful model for other villages that are venturing into ecotourism programmes.
During the Excellent Village Awards (AKC) last April, the village is one of the two recipients of the Bronze Award, the other being Kg Sibut in Temburong District.
The Brunei Times
FIle photo shows a group of visitors from Singapore watching a live demonstration of menampi udang (winnowing shrimp) in Kg Sg Matan. Picture: BT file
Saturday, August 4, 2012
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