Kokoda track sees drop in visitor numbers

By LUKE KAMA
TREKKER numbers for the 2018 trekking season along the Kokoda Track has dropped by almost 30 per cent, according to a major tour operator.
Managing-director of Adventure Kokoda, Charlie Lynn, pictured, said the 30 per cent decline was due to the shutting down of the track last month by landowners led by chief executive officer of the Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) James Enage.
“Our trekker numbers for the 2018 Anzac trekking period in April are down by 30 per cent from last year,” he told The National.
“This is due to the negative publicity caused by the landowners closing the trail in January,” Lynn told The National over the weekend.
He said the reduction meant that there could be up to 150 trekkers less than the number of trekkers in 2017. “As a result, the KTA will lose K50,000 in trek fee income, at least 250 local guides and carriers will not get work and campsite owners will lose approximately K30,000 in income,” he said.
Lynn said the shutting down of the track was a very sad reflection of Papua New Guinea’s premier tourist attraction.
He said the track had been brought to its knees through the “irresponsible actions of people in authority” to act swiftly and address landowner issues.