Oro tourism concerns

By CHARLES MOI
TOURISM, Arts and Culture Minister Tobias Kulang has called on stakeholders to find out why the number of tourists visiting the Kokoda track in Northern is falling.
During the launching of the 75th anniversary of the World War II Kokoda campaign, Kulang said the 50 per cent decrease could be due to lack of marketing of Kokoda to the world.
“The budget to market Kokoda in Australia was only K18,000,” Kulang said.
“We need to understand why this significant drop by almost 50 per cent. From a tourism standpoint, it’s a very important destination.
“Australia and New Zealand continue to account for over 40 per cent. That’s big for a single market.
“There used to be some 6000 visitors but now it has dropped to 3000.
“I notice that 60 per cent goes to overheads like rental and wages. We have a real issue here. The statistics glare at us and the numbers have dropped.”
Kulang said the decrease in visitors to Kokoda could be a generation thing.
“The people who have fought the war and their children, the immediate people who were affected or who learnt from their parents about this particular destination, are probably aging,” Kulang said.
“There’s probably a third or fourth generation that we are not dealing with.”
He said the track needed to be maintained at an international standard.
“Our facilities and products need to be developed and maintained at a certain level. They (tourists) don’t expect five-star (treatment). They expected the basic necessity.”