Business boom in East New Britain

EAST New Britain has experienced a boom in business in the past two weeks during the 5th PNG Games, chamber of commerce vice-president James Wong said yesterday.
Wong said the boom had affected local vendors and business houses to the extent that all hotels, guest houses and vehicles had been fully booked since the games began.
He said apart from business houses making money from the visitors to the province, ordinary citizens were making money by setting up stalls near the main sports ground at Takubar and at all districts where sports were being played.
“Evidently, most of our visitors preferred to buy food items being sold at the local stalls such as the famous Tolai Totogor,” he said.
“Our citizens are making money from their stalls and this is a good initiative on their part to capitalise on the games.
“With the price of cocoa gone down after being hit by the cocoa pod borer, people are smart to find other means to generate income and money is going directly into their pockets.”
Wong, who is deputy chairman of the host organising committee (HOC) of the PNG Games, said they were keen to help local people generate income, which was why they decentralised the games to the districts.
Comparing the impact of the games to other major events hosted by the province such as the business summit and the landowners benefit sharing agreement talks, he said the games had created an avenue for locals to earn money.
“The summit and LNG BSA resulted in a huge cash injection in the local economy but it was more from the government.”