Growing tourism as a sustainable industry

THE 5th national tourism conference held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port Moresby on Oct 6-7 attracted more than 200 participants from around the country.
Tourism experts from the region were brought in as guest speakers.
The biannual conference was based on “growing tourism as a sustainable industry” for Papua New Guinea.
The PNG Tourism Promotion Authority hosted the conference.
PNGTPA chief executive officer Peter Vincent said the last conference was held in 2005. It had since been deferred for various reasons until this year.
This year’s conference was an ideal opportunity for relevant government agencies, key stakeholders and tourism industry partners to come together to see where we are in terms of tourism development in the past five years, review the process of development thus far and find ways forward for tourism development in PNG. 
The conference theme was discussed within the five main pillars of the national tourism master plan 2010-17. They were marketing and promotions, investment incentives and product development, transport and infrastructure, human resource development and education and institutions and partnerships.
The master plan was developed following a comprehensive sector review by the Independent Consumer and Competitions Commission and PNGTPA and sanctioned by the national government. It was the first-ever government blueprint for PNG since independence and provides the important roadmap needed to guide tourism development in the country.
This would be achieved through simple and clearly setout implementation objectives by working with key government agencies and industry partners who will make up the technical working group.  The group was critical if PNG was to develop the sector because tourism cuts across many sectors.
In order for it to be nurtured and developed meaningfully, there has to be a holistic approach from both government and the private sector.
The national tourism conference also provided the perfect forum for PNGTPA to inform its industry partners and stakeholders of the progress made so under each of the five main pillars of the master plan and seek their input going forward.       
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Works and Transport Don Polye was the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony.
He set the tone for the conference by declaring the national government’s commitment to tourism development as a key economic sector activity which it had listed as the second highest in terms of priority activities for revenue generation under the Vision 2050 development programme.
The deputy prime minister also embraced the conference theme given its significance in PNG today with the massive boom in the non-renewable resources sector such as the onslaught of the multi-billion-kina liquefied natural gas project and its impact on the rest of the economic sector activities such as tourism.
The fact that tourism remains the only sustainable economic activity, and the largest money spinner in the world today, could be the savior for future generations of PNG in terms of protecting our colourful and diverse cultures, our exquisite flora and fauna and our rich and proud history as a people and as a nation.
Of course, the benchmark for any real tourism growth is the number of international visitor arrivals to a destination and PNG has done since 2001 by recording positive growth in bona fide tourist numbers. However, to reach the level of our regional neighbours and be competitive as a global tourism brand, PNG needs to address underlying issues such as law and order, complicated and cumbersome visa procedures, high cost of travel, lack of quality and international standard accommodation and customer services at reasonable rates, Customs and border protection, poor infrastructure and transport networks, negative image perception overseas and the general negative attitudes of our people.  
These and other issues such as the lack of local tourism development were deliberated on at length with numerous suggestions offered for improvement.
Vincent was frank in his assessment on local tourism saying national airlines and hotels are just not keen on offering special airfares or accommodation rates, making it impossible for ordinary Papua New Guinean families or individuals to travel to other PNG destinations for holidays.
Infrastructure also remains a serious issue making it difficult for both local and international tourist to have easy access to products in safety and comfort.
PNG Ports chief executive officer Brian Riches clearly illustrated the problem using visiting international cruise ships as an example.
Riches said PNG simply did not have the port facilities and infrastructure for tourists on cruise ships anywhere in the country. Most tourists are made to fend for themselves when they land at ports such as Port Moresby.
The situation will not improve for some time yet because PNG Ports needs millions of kina to rebuild the ports with proper facilities to cater for both tourist and cargo vessels.    
Product information to the overseas wholesalers and retailers was also a concern with provincial tourism officers once again reminded to provided full and updated information on a regular basis to the national tourism office “so we can, in turn, provide the information to our destination marketing representatives in our primary source markets of Australia, Japan, Europe and North America who will then disseminate the information” to their respective markets.
Vincent was also concerned that not all provincial tourism officers made an attempt to attend the conference because this was their big chance, not only to impress others of their products but also to learn and appreciate the changing demands of the global tourism market so they fully understand and are on the same wavelength as PNGTPA in meeting tourists expectations in terms of products and services.
At the end of conference, it all came down to identifying the issues at hand under the five tourism master plan pillars and making recommendations to the national tourism office on how we should address these issues moving forward.
For marketing and promotions, issues among others included opening up more new markets for instance in China and Russia; using more social media or viral marketing while continuing to produce more DVDs and brochures; increase and improve communication between product owners, services providers, provincial tourism offices and PNGTPA; cultural mapping such as recording legends, myths, history and culture; improved and active information centers in provinces; and more international exposure for product owners among others.
They went on to recommend website and marketing training and support for provincial tourism officers and products owners; incentives for product owners to protect cultures with overexposing for monetary gains; new marketing materials for provinces; and increasing overseas market knowledge for our local operators.
For investment incentives and product development, it was recommended that incentives be categorised so they are appropriate for certain levels; domestic investment be empowered with customary landowners encouraged to register traditional land; tax incentives should be improved to include direct investment by the national government; government to also provide business development advice and support structures and mechanisms for tour operators or associations; product development should be complete including identifying, developing, pricing, packaging and selling;  and, importantly, they must be sustainable products.
In transport and infrastructure, it was recommended that the technical working group be enhanced to include significant transport sector stakeholders on the committee; seek to have membership of PNGTPA/Tourism Industry Association on the infrastructure/transport committees; improved information access and networking systems; TIA to work in close consultation with PNGTPA to seek funding for infrastructure/transport maintenance and rehabilitation.
In human resource development, issues included PNG community; overseas customers; service providers; employees, coordination of training; informal training and training providers. It was recommended that there be a standard curriculum adopted through an advisory committee such as a Tourism Industry Skills Council; adopt one international standard or training package; adopt one national standard for accreditation and registration of training providers and trainers; and a government policy covering resources and infrastructure.
For institutions and partnerships, it was recommended that provincial administrations and industry associations improve communication lines with the authority and among themselves; that the PNGTPA Act 1993 be amended to increase staff ceiling from current 25 to increase capacity and output; new tourism master plan to include customs, NAQIA, NSO, DPLLG, works and transport, police, media, DEC/Unesco, NGOs/churches, civil society and the Department of Community Development.
Partnerships to incorporate one-stop shop for investments, fees and charges for PNG Ports, customs, NAQIA, immigrations etc; and, finally, visa approval processes should be streamlined for convenience.
Hopefully, between now and the next national tourism conference in two years, all government agencies, stakeholders and industry partners would have made progress and address the issues and recommendations raised to ultimately growing tourism as a sustainable industry for PNG.