Culture tourism an untapped goldmine: CEO

The National National
A young contestant taking part in the Morobe Show’s pikinini quest. National Cultural Commission executive director Steven Kilanda says PNG is yet to see the potential of cultural tourism.

CULTURE is the biggest drawcard in terms of tourism in Papua New Guinea as it is a least developed sector with immense potential, an official says.
Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority (PNGTPA) chief executive officer Eric Uvovo said the country had an advantage because of its diverse Melanesian culture and its flora and fauna.
Uvovo said the development and promotion of cultural events across the country was key to opening it up to the rest of the world.
“But the challenge we have is that as culture evolves, there’s a lot of conflicting cultures that comes in,” he said.
“Artificial cultures that can affect the uniqueness of our culture and I think this policy (of developing cultural events) is timely.”
Uvovo said the National Culture Commission had embarked on this action to develop local cultures.
He said cultural tourism was worth US$450 billion (about K1.579 trillion) globally according to an assessment done by the International Finance Corporation in 2019.
“A significant amount of money is involve and if we capture one per cent of that market as we have a diverse culture we do not need liquefied natural gas (LNG).”