Jerudong Park, revive please....

As this week is the school mid-term break, we brought our girls to Legoland a few days ago. The weather was miserable (as usual) and we stayed overnight in one of the nearby hotels. All in all we spent like 350pounds (hotel+tickets+souvenirs+food+car fuel). And...my husband and I agree that Jerudong Park was a LOT better than Legoland.

I think a lot of people ask the same question, what happened to JP?? We had some really good rides both for adults and children. And the garden was fantastic! Personally, I think if we really want our tourism industry to grow fast, somebody has to revive the JP. Perhaps a new management and serious re-branding (actually I'm not even sure if we had a brand last time!). If JP gets its fame and glory back, just imagine the spin-off effect that it can create. The hotel occupancy, the food business, transportation and most of all the employment that it will create. I don't really know the mechanics of the amusement park industry but according to Forbes, it is big business, with a worldwide revenue of $US19 billion in 2001:

"One reason parks are multiplying so quickly is because
they're big business. The average price of a one-day ticket is around $25.
Multiply that by a family of four and add Grandma and Grandpa, overpriced
food, plush-toy souvenirs, mouse ears and perhaps a night or two in a
hotel...and you're looking at some serious dough."

I guess it is not a cheap business and perhaps in our case, in might be a complicated business. But then I am also thinking what a waste .... of time , effort and money spent. It's not as if we have to build it from scratch (I mean I would probably think the possibility of building it if we didn't have it!) we probably need help from people who are in this business and obviously need to spend (lots of) money to give JP some very effective CPR.

Some people would probably argue, why built it in the first place? But it is built! There's nothing you can do to un-build it. (Even if it wasn't built, Why NOT?) So, why not take the advantage and try make some money out of it? I don't know, why not privatise it? Everywhere people talk about niche, well...THIS is our NICHE. Tell me, where can you find another amusement park in the region that can rival our old JP? Even Legoland cannot compete with the old JP. If old JP is back, I am also sure that the attractiveness of Brunei as the next family vacation destination in the south east asian region will definitely be the envy of other competing destinations. Surely, family vacation makes up a large chunk of leisure travel. In the US, for example, family vacation makes up about 70% of total leisure travel. Otherwise, let's just pray that there are lots (millions please) of backpackers, nature-lovers and foreign pensioners who pick up Brunei brochure...*hehe*

If Brunei were to spend money to restore and perhaps even improve JP, I have a strong believe that it will be money well spent! However, I would like to stress the importance of a serious re-branding (not merely having some people wear some animal costumes that actually look scary and some clowns who don't play any trick, that walk around and make children cry...sorry, I don't mean to be patronizing but that was the scene the last time we visited JP, a year ago). With an exciting image, fantastic rides, yummy food, good entertainment both for me and my children and beautiful musical fountain garden, hey! I wouldn't mind spending a few hundred dollars staying in a nearby hotel and get 2-day family pass, in the next Brunei school holidays! And I'm sure a few hundred parents (in Brunei alone) wouldn't mind doing the same thing too!

Brunei Yakin!

Salaam.