Royal Brunei Airlines Takes On Tourism Promotion for a Whole Country

For a rich sultanate, Brunei is mightily poor in attracting tourists. Poorer countries in Southeast Asia such as Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, all of which came to the tourism table later than Brunei, have fared better. Cambodia now gets six million arrivals a year, Laos more than four million, and Myanmar 3.5 million last year, even with a tourist backlash over its Rohingya refugee crisis. Brunei? Just 278,100 arrivals in 2018. “Singapore gets that in a week,” said Karam Chand, CEO of Royal Brunei Airlines. The carrier is taking matters into its own hands — or perhaps has been asked to. While it’s normal, in fact imperative, for national airlines to support country promotions, Royal Brunei is playing “the leading role in destination marketing,” Chand told Skift in an interview at the recent Aviation Festival Asia in Singapore. The airline has in the past launched destination campaigns to promote Brunei. The difference is it has now become the lead tourism market