BRUNEI Tourism will be working closely with MASwings' marketing team to have a joint-cooperation marketing scheme, Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed said in the Malaysian eastern state of Sabah yesterday.

The Brunei Tourism Board (BTB) Chief Executive Officer is hoping that MASwings will help people become more aware of the connectivity they now have, and hoped that MASwings' pricing will remain competitive in future.

"The BTB marketing team and MASwings' marketing team needs to meet up immediately to do something together," he stressed, during his speech yesterday evening at the welcoming dinner of MASwings' inaugural flight from BSB to KK.

He also revealed that the five-year masterplan is completed, and awaiting endorsement from His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam. There will be 69 new tourism projects coming up shortly, which will include diving.

"Diving is like golfing, people want to dive in new places, not the same place over and over. And we have a lot of shipwrecks where you can see live bullets lying around even," he told the audience.

Sheikh Jamaluddin, who spoke at a press conference earlier yesterday, said that he looked forward to the cooperation between all the relevant stakeholders.

When asked whether or not these flights will spur more Bruneians out of the Sultanate, the CEO declined, saying that it doesn't mean that there will be more competition against each other.

He explained during the press conference that Brunei has its own unique features: its safety; the Empire Hotel and Country Club; the night market; and eco-tourism destinations.

"So, I really see this as an opportunity, not as a threat. I'm looking forward to have joint-marketing with MASwings, which will in-turn, give opportunity for Sabahans and Sarawakians to come to Brunei, cheaper than ever before," he said.

Sheikh Jamaluddin added: "People are price sensitive and a lot of Sabahans have not been to Brunei, so this will really open up our country."

Sabah's Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Dato Masidi Manjun who said in reference to the earlier question that people should look at the spill-over these flights will create.

"It's not just the issue that more Bruneians go here, or more Sabahans (go there), it's the amount of money spent at each respective country. It's the spill over that will really benefit the country," he said.

Dato Masidi believed that it will create more work for travel agents, whilst creating more benefits for the retail sector.

The Sabahan tourism minister said that with the ASEAN open skies agreements coming up in 2016, the region needs to leverage on its strengths to benefit and defend itself from fierce competition through early collaborative effort.

"That's why I am pleased that Sabah Tourism works very well together with RBA (Royal Brunei Airlines), and I hope that RBA will also work closely with MASwings," he said, adding that the Bruneian flag carrier is one of Sabah Tourism's biggest friend.

He believe that Sabah's relationship with RBA will continue to play a pivotal role in the Malaysian state's efforts to improve its tourism industry.

MASwings celebrated the successful launch of its first international flight by inviting a delegation of more than 30 Bruneians to Sabah to celebrate a "Bruneian Night" at the Pacific Sutera Harbour hotel.The Brunei Times