State funding slammed

By MALUM NALU
TOURISM Minister Tobias Kulang has described the Government’s funding of tourism industry as “ludicrous and unthinkable”.
“Out of a growing national budget of K14 billion, K10 million for a key growth sector – representing not even one per cent – is ludicrous and completely unthinkable,” he said.
“This dismal and piecemeal approach will continue to deny us any meaningful growth in the sector.”
He opened the national tourism conference at the Stanley Hotel and Suites in Port Moresby last Friday attended by international and local stakeholders.
Kulang said the country’s “huge law and order problem and general unfriendliness” plus being an “expensive” destination were other factors which were deterring tourists from visiting the country.
The Tourism Promotion Authority received on average K13 million each year, of which less that K2 million was for infrastructure development programmes.
Kulang said the Government also cut K50 million off the tourism  allocation in this year’s national budget.
“In recent times, the industry was excited by an allocation of K50 million in the 2016 budget – the highest so far,” he said.
“However, this allocation was cut by K45 million – a 90 per cent cut – making it one of the highest of any sector in the supplementary budget.
“This was like adding salt to the wound.”
He said a serious change in attitude was needed to see real traction in the industry. “Otherwise, we are wasting our time here and denying ourselves of the economic value this industry is able to generate during this time,” Kulang said.