Ecotourism Development in Brunei Darussalam

Abstract

The discovery of oil and gas reserves in the 1920s has made Brunei one of the world's richest countries in terms of GDP per capita. Since then, the country has been using its oil and gas revenues to finance major infrastructure projects throughout the country. Now the Sultanate's critical priority is to diversify the economy beyond its oil and gas sector. The Brunei Government has steadily opened up its economy and called for partnership with stakeholders and the private sector to take advantage of the opportunities offered by its diversification plan as outlined in the Brunei Vision 2035. The government has been looking at non-oil and gas options, and is now increasingly developing its ecotourism sector. Many have conducted ecotourism with looking into the ecotourism practice issues and impediments. Truly, Brunei ecotourism is still in its infancy and has not reached the level of development found in neighbouring areas like Sabah and Sarawak. And this is perhaps attributable to several factors, including poor understanding of ecotourism principles and lack of training. To turn Brunei into a destination for ecotourism is certainly challengeable. In this paper, the authors look into the challenges and suggest solutions turning Brunei into an ecotourism center. The authors aim to assess the recent developments of Brunei's ecotourism. And attention is particularly given to education and training intervention, a major area of interest in increasing the people's understanding of ecotourism. More importantly, the authors discuss the role of government policies and initiatives at national and local levels in the development of ecotourism.