Despite a recent spike in daily Covid-19 cases in the South-East Asian country, the Brunei govt launched a new tourism package on Saturday to woo local and foreign visitors.

The tourism goods, according to Brunei's Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism, are tailored to the Brunei-Muara district, which includes the national capital Bandar Seri Begawan and several landmarks. The decision is part of the government's attempts to help the local tourism business, which has been hit hard by the current Covid-19 outbreak.

The new package comes after a similar one was recently launched for Temburong district, and others are likely for the remaining two districts in the nation, Belait and Tudong.  The packages, according to the ministry, include marketing tourist destinations, aiding tourism stakeholders like as hotels, tour guides, and travel brokers in delivering complete and adaptable itineraries, and creating new tourist attractions.

They're also supposed to prepare "for school vacation promotion in April, August, and December this year" as well as "for tourist arrivals from overseas once borders are open." Brunei, a country with a population of over 420,000 people, has verified over 17,000 Covid-19 cases in its second wave of the virus, which began in August last year and wreaked havoc on the tourism economy.

In December of last year, the country declared itself to be in the Endemic Phase of the National Covid-19 Recovery Framework, with local infections gradually declining after the country imposed strict social distancing rules, including work-from-home for government and private sector employees as well as a curfew. In recent days, however, Brunei has experienced a rebound in daily Covid-19 cases, primarily local infections.

For the first four days of February, it registered 82 cases, 133 cases, 200 cases, and 140 cases. It reported 373 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, increasing the total number of cases to 17,404, with 102 fatalities. The new reported cases included 368 local infections and five imported cases, according to the health ministry. In the country, there are now 1,196 active cases being treated and monitored.

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