Festival will benefit locals, says official

The National Mask Festival which will be held in Kokopo, East New Britain, will benefit the local economy, vice chairman of the organising committee Tiolam Wawaja said.
“The hotels will benefit from this event and even our local people will benefit from the artefacts that they sell,” he said.
“A lot of them (tourists) like to go and visit the mask festival but they would also like to go out to other sites of interest.
“Once they are there, it is a one stop shop where they can go and buy and do other things so most people in the community will benefit from this event.”
Wawaja said compared to the cruise ship industry, the festival would bring in and keep tourists in the province for a longer period of time.