When I was reading this article, I can’t help thinking about Brunei’s Vision to be among the world’s top 10 countries in terms of GDP per capita and quality of life. So, I wonder whether Brunei (or any part of it) will one day ever make into the top 10 liveable cities in the world. According to Monocle, the ingredients to be a liveable city are:
“a mix of shops and services within walking distance, a good transport interchange within close proximity, green space as part of their residence, a good park with a body of water for a refreshing plunge nearby, independent businesses as a key feature of the community, a sense of security (police on the beat or a Japanese-style police box in their neighbourhood), excellent coffee (Melbourne's Fitzroy and St Kilda and Sydney's Potts Point frequently came up as neighbourhoods that had the ideal mix of restaurants, cafés and street life) and finally a little bit of grit and surprise.”
Judging from the latest result which saw many of the European cities topping the list, it looks like we still have a looonnnggg way to go.
Salaam.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Consumer Loyalty Switch
I received the email from RBA informing that they have achieved the e-ticketing target. So, what does that mean? Would they be able to improve their performance and sales? Because I can tell you that our loyalty to our national carrier has now been transferred to another, due to their poor service and sales strategy.
It happened about 4 weeks ago. When I received the (most) distressing news (ever in my whole life) from my sister, we wanted to fly home immediately, as in the very next day. It was on Saturday afternoon. I called RBA London and was answered by a machine saying that the office was now closed. I was shouting my heart out! This was Saturday afternoon in England! For goodness sake, why the BL**DY H*LL are you closed?!! Saturday in England is like THE day for business to make a lot of money.
Then we tried the RBA website. And guess what, the earliest travel date that I could book from their website was in the next 48 hours! I was gobsmacked! How ridiculous is this? RBA website is not some travel agent’s website trying to sell other airlines’ tickets. It is selling its own tickets, isn’t it? Why isn’t the website connected to their booking system? Honestly, I nearly fainted! Furthermore, the price it quoted me to travel in 3 days time (the earliest available seats) was double the normal ticket (about GBP1200 per person, if I’m not mistaken). Now where is the economics in that? Aren’t few cheaper seats better than empty seats? Charging higher fare for the last few seats is only justifiable and economically sound if there is no other airline travels to the same destination.
So, my husband calmed me down and suggested that I tried Singapore Airlines. Lo and behold! Within 5 minutes, the website gave me all the combinations of the travel dates that I could purchase, as early as the very next morning! And the prices…oh sweetness… (Thank You ALLAH!) were about GBP700 for an adult and about GBP500 for a child RETURN tickets inclusive of tax and services.
And YES, it was the double-decker Airbus 380. “WOW…” was the word uttered by my 2 daughters when they entered the aircraft.
And... RBA has lost in sales of 4 used-to-be loyal customers.
What I like even better is the fact that the SQ offered a straight, uninterrupted journey to/from Singapore, which is fantastic especially for my children. They get to have enough sleep. They sleep, we sleep. And therefore we wake up happy. Unlike RBA. We have to make a transit in Dubai, which honestly is the MOST annoying thing to do for travellers with children, especially the journey returning to London. Just imagine parents travelling with small children, who have to be woken up from their sleep- grumpy and tired, just to get off the aircraft and make a long walk along the Dubai airport just to board the aircraft again in 15 minutes. It is ridiculous!
And after sampling A380, with its fantastic uninterrupted, perfectly working personal screen in-flight entertainment [don’t even let me start on RBA’s in-flight entertainment! Which has to constantly be reset by the air-stewardess which results in my children getting angry and I (almost always) bang my head on the screens], my husband and I have promised ourselves that WHENEVER POSSIBLE, we will not use RBA for any long distance journey again. EVEN if there is a price difference. Because some things, such as COMFORT and peace of mind, are simply priceless.
I am no expert in airlines or even travel business but I’m sure it is all about satisfying customers. Plus the airline business is also in a perfect competition market. If RBA continues its shoddy sales strategy, funny flight route combinations and poor in-flight entertainment, I’m not surprised that it will be losing more and more of its customers.
Salaam.
It happened about 4 weeks ago. When I received the (most) distressing news (ever in my whole life) from my sister, we wanted to fly home immediately, as in the very next day. It was on Saturday afternoon. I called RBA London and was answered by a machine saying that the office was now closed. I was shouting my heart out! This was Saturday afternoon in England! For goodness sake, why the BL**DY H*LL are you closed?!! Saturday in England is like THE day for business to make a lot of money.
Then we tried the RBA website. And guess what, the earliest travel date that I could book from their website was in the next 48 hours! I was gobsmacked! How ridiculous is this? RBA website is not some travel agent’s website trying to sell other airlines’ tickets. It is selling its own tickets, isn’t it? Why isn’t the website connected to their booking system? Honestly, I nearly fainted! Furthermore, the price it quoted me to travel in 3 days time (the earliest available seats) was double the normal ticket (about GBP1200 per person, if I’m not mistaken). Now where is the economics in that? Aren’t few cheaper seats better than empty seats? Charging higher fare for the last few seats is only justifiable and economically sound if there is no other airline travels to the same destination.
So, my husband calmed me down and suggested that I tried Singapore Airlines. Lo and behold! Within 5 minutes, the website gave me all the combinations of the travel dates that I could purchase, as early as the very next morning! And the prices…oh sweetness… (Thank You ALLAH!) were about GBP700 for an adult and about GBP500 for a child RETURN tickets inclusive of tax and services.
And YES, it was the double-decker Airbus 380. “WOW…” was the word uttered by my 2 daughters when they entered the aircraft.
And... RBA has lost in sales of 4 used-to-be loyal customers.
What I like even better is the fact that the SQ offered a straight, uninterrupted journey to/from Singapore, which is fantastic especially for my children. They get to have enough sleep. They sleep, we sleep. And therefore we wake up happy. Unlike RBA. We have to make a transit in Dubai, which honestly is the MOST annoying thing to do for travellers with children, especially the journey returning to London. Just imagine parents travelling with small children, who have to be woken up from their sleep- grumpy and tired, just to get off the aircraft and make a long walk along the Dubai airport just to board the aircraft again in 15 minutes. It is ridiculous!
And after sampling A380, with its fantastic uninterrupted, perfectly working personal screen in-flight entertainment [don’t even let me start on RBA’s in-flight entertainment! Which has to constantly be reset by the air-stewardess which results in my children getting angry and I (almost always) bang my head on the screens], my husband and I have promised ourselves that WHENEVER POSSIBLE, we will not use RBA for any long distance journey again. EVEN if there is a price difference. Because some things, such as COMFORT and peace of mind, are simply priceless.
I am no expert in airlines or even travel business but I’m sure it is all about satisfying customers. Plus the airline business is also in a perfect competition market. If RBA continues its shoddy sales strategy, funny flight route combinations and poor in-flight entertainment, I’m not surprised that it will be losing more and more of its customers.
Salaam.
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Tourism oh tourism
This morning my husband and I were discussing about the place for our annual family vacation. Considering this year will be my last year in the UK, we thought of several places. Given our limited budget (otherwise we would love to travel to ALL places), we need to find a place which would give us the most value to the (limited available) money we spend, where the children and us can equally have a blast. In the end however, we settled for Disneyland Paris even though we went there 2 years ago.
For those of you who have been to Disneyland Paris, I'm sure you will agree that the place is super-fantastic and it has the X-factor (ie. the ability to make you feel, no matter how old you are, that you are in a fantabulous land and you wish you can stay there forever, well at least until your money runs out hehe). For those of you who haven't, then I can assure you IT IS :). And then there is Paris...the city of love *sigh*.
Now, if you apply the same rule to Brunei as a tourist destination, my question is what is our X-factor? What can we offer to a person who is spending his/her limited budget visiting our country? Or if I were the potential tourist, I ask WHY should I spend my hard-earned 700pounds (or any other amount for that matter) to come to Brunei?
Our quest to become one of THE tourist destinations in the South East Asia, in my opinion, is no easy feat. After all, look at our competitions in the region. However, I also think it is NOT impossible. Our main challenge is not that we don't have the factors that can make us THE tourist destination; rather it is the lack of will, determination and co-ordination among the relevant government departments.
Every time people bring up the issue of tourism, the first thing people talk about is that Brunei is a 'dry' country. The impression I get is that people seem to think that no alcohol= no tourists. What a lame excuse, really. It makes me wonder, do people really travel to consume alcohol (which they can find back home)? Now, before anyone argues FOR the changing of alcohol policy (I'm actually indifferent if the policy is reviewed), let us first look at what we can change without compromising our Islamic faith.
First, let's look at the beaches we have. We have beautiful beaches. Sadly however, the last time I visited them, they were dirty and not to mention the unspeakable state of the public washrooms. And for most of the time, nothing much was happening! Now, my questions are: 1) how expensive can it be to provide the service of beautifying our beaches? For goodness sake, you could even count the number of rubbish bins provided in each beach. For a rich country, I tell you, we are quite stingy! And 2) How difficult can it be to plan 12 types of happening activities for the 12 months of the year?
Next, we have our beloved old Kampong Ayer (Water Village) which is...simply old and dirty. I'm sorry I cannot help but 'smile' every time people mention Brunei being the 'Venice of the East'...Yes... that was aeons ago. Now, I'm not saying that we should just bulldoze Kampong Ayer. In fact, I am FOR preserving it. The challenge now is how to preserve it, beautify it and make it one of Brunei's X Factors. To me, this can only be done if ALL relevant authorities can put their heads together. This - the restoration of Kampong Ayer to its former glory, I believe, is the one project that actually deserves a foreign consultant. There are MANY issues to look into, among others are the sewerage system, an effective rubbish disposal, safety issues such as the fire-breaker system and the electrical system and last but not least, is the ways and means to make it into a desirable habitat of the 21st century!
And then, how about making Brunei into being THE family vacation destination? We used to have Jerudong Park. I tell you, it was the BEST! (At least in this region). Now, it has become a ghost park, which if the stories I heard were true, it really is a GHOST park (hehe). I wrote about JP some time ago (here) and my view still stands. Why aren’t we doing anything about it? Why are we wasting it? There is nothing you can do to UNDO the park so why don’t we make very good use of it? Honestly, I don’t understand. Really, if JP is restored, I think the tourism department won’t even have to spend another cent promoting Brunei.
Oh, and a PROPER Brunei Zoo, please! It is educational, fun and makes a natural (local and foreign) tourist destination.
Anyway, we have to accept the fact that Brunei can never be made into a 'wet and wild party' destination. But it doesn’t mean that Brunei can never be made into one of THE tourist destinations in the region. By declaring VISIT BRUNEI YEAR alone, doesn’t mean Brunei has become that destination. It needs combined efforts, strong will and obviously some spending. Otherwise, Brunei will forever be receiving this, this and this kinds of foreign tourists’ reviews.
Salaam.
For those of you who have been to Disneyland Paris, I'm sure you will agree that the place is super-fantastic and it has the X-factor (ie. the ability to make you feel, no matter how old you are, that you are in a fantabulous land and you wish you can stay there forever, well at least until your money runs out hehe). For those of you who haven't, then I can assure you IT IS :). And then there is Paris...the city of love *sigh*.
Now, if you apply the same rule to Brunei as a tourist destination, my question is what is our X-factor? What can we offer to a person who is spending his/her limited budget visiting our country? Or if I were the potential tourist, I ask WHY should I spend my hard-earned 700pounds (or any other amount for that matter) to come to Brunei?
Our quest to become one of THE tourist destinations in the South East Asia, in my opinion, is no easy feat. After all, look at our competitions in the region. However, I also think it is NOT impossible. Our main challenge is not that we don't have the factors that can make us THE tourist destination; rather it is the lack of will, determination and co-ordination among the relevant government departments.
Every time people bring up the issue of tourism, the first thing people talk about is that Brunei is a 'dry' country. The impression I get is that people seem to think that no alcohol= no tourists. What a lame excuse, really. It makes me wonder, do people really travel to consume alcohol (which they can find back home)? Now, before anyone argues FOR the changing of alcohol policy (I'm actually indifferent if the policy is reviewed), let us first look at what we can change without compromising our Islamic faith.
First, let's look at the beaches we have. We have beautiful beaches. Sadly however, the last time I visited them, they were dirty and not to mention the unspeakable state of the public washrooms. And for most of the time, nothing much was happening! Now, my questions are: 1) how expensive can it be to provide the service of beautifying our beaches? For goodness sake, you could even count the number of rubbish bins provided in each beach. For a rich country, I tell you, we are quite stingy! And 2) How difficult can it be to plan 12 types of happening activities for the 12 months of the year?
Next, we have our beloved old Kampong Ayer (Water Village) which is...simply old and dirty. I'm sorry I cannot help but 'smile' every time people mention Brunei being the 'Venice of the East'...Yes... that was aeons ago. Now, I'm not saying that we should just bulldoze Kampong Ayer. In fact, I am FOR preserving it. The challenge now is how to preserve it, beautify it and make it one of Brunei's X Factors. To me, this can only be done if ALL relevant authorities can put their heads together. This - the restoration of Kampong Ayer to its former glory, I believe, is the one project that actually deserves a foreign consultant. There are MANY issues to look into, among others are the sewerage system, an effective rubbish disposal, safety issues such as the fire-breaker system and the electrical system and last but not least, is the ways and means to make it into a desirable habitat of the 21st century!
And then, how about making Brunei into being THE family vacation destination? We used to have Jerudong Park. I tell you, it was the BEST! (At least in this region). Now, it has become a ghost park, which if the stories I heard were true, it really is a GHOST park (hehe). I wrote about JP some time ago (here) and my view still stands. Why aren’t we doing anything about it? Why are we wasting it? There is nothing you can do to UNDO the park so why don’t we make very good use of it? Honestly, I don’t understand. Really, if JP is restored, I think the tourism department won’t even have to spend another cent promoting Brunei.
Oh, and a PROPER Brunei Zoo, please! It is educational, fun and makes a natural (local and foreign) tourist destination.
Anyway, we have to accept the fact that Brunei can never be made into a 'wet and wild party' destination. But it doesn’t mean that Brunei can never be made into one of THE tourist destinations in the region. By declaring VISIT BRUNEI YEAR alone, doesn’t mean Brunei has become that destination. It needs combined efforts, strong will and obviously some spending. Otherwise, Brunei will forever be receiving this, this and this kinds of foreign tourists’ reviews.
Salaam.
Monday, 31 December 2007
Bye 2007..Hello 2008
Wishing You All a Happy New Year!
Thank you for reading and visiting this blogsite.
Here are some pics from our recent NY trip which was FANTASTIC!
Salaam.
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