K500mil loss for tourism

THE Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic travel restrictions cost tourism K500 million in lost revenue in the last two years, Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA) chief executive officer Eric Mossman Uvovo says.
“The restrictions had hit the industry hard with the number of tourists dropping by up to 85 per cent while about 90 per cent of the business activities were affected,” he said.
“Besides the losses to the economy, hundreds of people in the tourism sector were also affected.”
Uvovo said it was an unfortunate situation for the country to be affected by the impact of the pandemic among other common issues such as law and order, bad media publicity and high cost of travel.
He said the industry was significantly affected but the challenges had presented new opportunities for improvement.
“The tourism strategic development plan 2022-2026 has been designed to strengthen the support given by our Government, industry and people so that together, we can chart the roadmap for a better Papua New Guinea tourism to serve the world,” Uvovo said.
At the launching of the plan in Port Moresby two weeks ago, TourMinister Isi Henry Leonard said PNG’s tourism industry, like elsewhere in the world, had been hit hard by the pandemic.
Leonard said for January alone, the industry saw significant reductions in travel with over 86 per cent, equating to 12,000 fewer international travellers to PNG.
He said international borders were slowly opening up but these figures might continue to negatively impact the industry in the future.
Leonard added that the Covid-19 pandemic slashed over 1 billion arrivals or a drop of tourist travel by 80 per cent globally, through estimates by the United Nations World Tourism Organisations.