Mask festival worth the long trip for tourists

By ELIZABETH VUVU
THREE American tourists who watched the National Mask Festival have described it as being worth the long trip and the hot sun.
Eric Miller, 61, wife Leonore Miller, 58, and Mary Underwood, 74, were among the 1000 tourists who arrived in East New Britain last week to watch the festival.
The three Americans were among the 26 tourists who had their tours arranged by South Sea Horizons. It was their first visit to the country.
They said the festival was worth the heat from the sun they had to deal with, worth the three-day travel from home which meant changing aircrafts five times.
Miller and Underwood said the first day was a bit disorganised because the first group took hours to arrive at the showground, and politicians gave lengthy speeches which bored many tourists. But the second and third days were more organised and the programme flowed well. They also would have liked to know the stories behind the performances and dances.
“It would have been also good for the locals because of the different languages, people and cultures,” Underwood said.
Eric said: “It would have been nice if there was some background on the performances and it was only visual and only what we could figure out. But it was definitely worth it.”
Eric said the people were extremely friendly. South Sea Horizons operations manager Jane Stevenson said they had 28 visitors last week for 10 days with organised tours including the festival.
Leonore said the cost of accommodation and transportation was quite high which prevented tourists from going to other places.