More shopping activity in December at Times Square

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THERE are more consumers frequenting the Times Square ShoppingCentre this month, compared to the same period in 2012.

During a phone interview with Times Square general manager Amal Majidah, she said that last year, the shopping centre was “more quiet”.

So far, December this year, she added there has noticeably been more shoppers. “It is not as busy as other times during the year, but there are still quite a few shoppers when we compared to last year,” she said.

Amal said that one of the reasons for the improvement in consumer activity this year could be due to the fact that the shopping centre has planned more events and has opened their cineplex this year as well.

She added that the projection for next year should be the same, or is expected to record an improvement.

Asked about activities that are being planned for the upcoming year, Amal said that it includes the Japan Festival, which “was one of the popular events planned at the Times Square Shopping Centre”.

She added that there are more activities but they have not been finalised.

Despite active consumer activity in the Sultanate, in August this year, Brunei was the fourth biggesttourism market for Malaysia in the first quarter of 2013, with 330,383 visits originating from the Sultanate for the period of January to March, data from Tourism Malaysia show.

Malaysian tourist arrivals from Brunei, which saw a growth of 13.5 per cent during the period, trails Singapore, with 3.22 million arrivals; Indonesia, with 630,419; and China, with 493,249. Brunei’s full-year count for 2012 was up 1.5 per cent from the previous year, when Malaysia saw 1.23 million visits from Bruneians.

However, despite the year-end holidays, border crossings remained “calm and quiet”, according to a recent report. Immigration officials expect more Bruneians to cross the borders towards the end of the year, especially after many Bruneians have received their bonuses. - Debbie Too

The Brunei Times