SOME 10 pigeons were released into the wild yesterday, signifying the start of the Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) 2010 this week as the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) yesterday held a multi-activity event to mark the highly-anticipated tourism event.
Brunei Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed said the pigeons were released to symbolise the start of the week-long ATF 2010, which will begin on January 21.
“If you look at the logo of ATF, you see the pigeon (dove), that’s the official logo for the ATF, so we are releasing the pigeons to welcome the start of the week,” he said.
The CEO added that the event was also organised to promote the ATF’s theme of “Asean, The Heart of Green, 10 Destinations, One Conservation Vision”.
“We are bringing all staff from all the departments (in MIPR) because it is the ministry’s project, so every department is involved,” Sheikh Jamaluddin said.
He also said that this year was Brunei’s only chance in 10 years (since the last one held in Brunei in 2001) to impress 1,500 visitors from all around the globe. “This is the biggest meeting after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) as we have 1,500 foreigners coming here, most of them (the participants) will be seeing Brunei (for) the first time. So it’s a good opportunity to show them the uniqueness of Brunei,” the CEO said.
The event was held at the Berakas Forest Reserve Park which saw more than 200 officials from MIPR engaged in several activities such as aerobics, jungle-trekking, brisk walking along the beach and the event’s highlight of releasing the pigeons.
Kickstarting the campaign with jungle-trekking was Minister of Industry and Primary Resources Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar.
“Last week we did the cleaning of the beaches, this week we’re doing brisk walking (along the beach), so all of these are part of the ATF 2010 campaign to create awareness on greenery,” said Salinah Salleh, marketing officer of Brunei Tourism. She also said that one of the highlights of the ATF 2010 will be a tree-planting activity at the forest reserve on January 25 whichwill be carried out by students, who will be representing the 10 Asean delegates, she explained. “It is good to provide these students with an early education on preserving greenery, good examples of them are schools like the International School Brunei and the Jerudong International School, who have been heavily involved in these green initiatives,” Salinah said.
Brunei will host the ATF for the second time, at the Brunei International Defence Exhibition (Bridex) Centre in Jerudong. The forum aimed to project Asean as an attractive, multifaceted single destination, as well as create and increase awareness of Asean as a highly competitive regional tourist destination.
The Brunei Times
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