| Siti Hajar |
TOURIST arrivals in the country increased by 8.6 per cent last year compared to 2014, according to the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism yesterday.
Malaysia contributed the biggest arrivals which can be attributed to easy air accessibility and proximity while visitors from China increased in numbers.
From 200,989 arrivals two years ago, the year 2015 saw the numbers rise to 218,213 with the main source market coming from Asean at 54 per cent, which stood at 56 per cent in 2014 followed by the Far East market at 21.8 per cent, which was at 17.9 per cent in 2014, the Long Haul market such as Europe and the Middle East at 12.4 per cent, compared to 13.4 per cent the previous year, and Australia and New Zealand collectively at 5.3 per cent compared to 5.8 per cent in 2014.
Of the top five countries that contributed to the increase included China whose visiting nationals increased from 13.2 per cent in 2014 to 16.9 per cent last year while arrivals from Malaysia dropped from 27.3 per cent to 26 per cent followed by the Philippines from 9.2 per cent to 8.2 per cent in 2015, Indonesia from 7.7 per cent to 7.9 per cent and Singapore from 8.2 per cent to 7.4 per cent.
The ministry said the increase was mainly attributed to high travel demand and positive growth from the main source markets comprising Asean, the Far East such as China and Japan, Australia and Long-Haul markets such as the United Kingdom.
Collectively, the Far East market contributed the highest growth of 32 per cent year-on-year followed by the Asean market at 4.7 per cent year-on-year while Australia and New Zealand and Long-Haul markets each grew steadily at one per cent year-on-year.
The main purpose of visiting Brunei that grew slightly from 39 per cent to 40.7 per cent was for leisure and holiday followed by a growth in transit from 9.7 per cent to 11 per cent. China and Malaysia contributed to the majority of the former market at 55.3 per cent of the total international visitor arrivals in 2015, with 36 per cent and 19.3 per cent respectively.
Other purposes slightly contracted that include Business and Meeting Incentives Convention and Exhibitions that was at 22.4 per cent in 2014 and 19.6 per cent last year; Visiting Friends and Relatives that in 2014 was at 12.4 per cent compared to 12.1 per cent last year and; for government purposes at three per cent last year compared to 3.6 per cent in 2014.
The average length of stay tourists spend visiting the Sultanate in 2015 was 5.9 days compared to six days in 2014.
For accommodation in 2015, there were a total of 74 establishments ranging from luxury resorts, internationally managed hotels, business standards, budget, lodgings, apartments, guest houses and homestays.
The total number of beds and rooms available were 5,279 beds and 3,680 rooms while the total number of hotels, resorts and apartments were at 46 followed by homestays at 14 and guest houses and rest houses also at 14. These numbers contrasted against 69 followed by 5,107 beds and 3,678 rooms in 2014 available for the same categories of accommodation.
The average hotel occupancy rate for 2015 was 37.9 per cent based on 33 accommodation compared to 40.3 per cent in 2014 with only 13 accommodation.
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