Positive media reports can boost tourism sector: Entrepreneur

Business

Positive media publication about the country’s natural and cultural diversity will improve the growth of tourism industry, an entrepreneur says.
Trans Niugini Tours proprietor Bob Bates said Papua New Guinea lacked good publicity to change its poor image and to make it a potential tourism destination.
“For PNG to move forward in a meaningful way in tourism, the international access needs to be competitive and the media should write good stories about us to change the image of the country for the better,” he said.
Bates said the country had an “image problem” which needed to change in order to attract interest from the international community.
He said this could only be done by bringing in some good travelling journalists to write positive stories about the country’s cultural and natural diversity.
“We get stories of tourist passing through Australia and coming to PNG being asked by the Customs and Immigration officers in Australia asking why they have to go to PNG for a holiday,” he said.
He said the natural tendency seemed to be about warding off visitors, particularly tourists, by implying that PNG was a dangerous place as a tourist destination.
However, he said the country also received positive feedback from some “fly in-fly out people” who went back to their home countries and promoted PNG as an interesting and diverse destination.
“They tell stories to their people and families that PNG isn’t threatening and dangerous.
“We get feedback from tourists that when they finish from a tour in PNG, it was much better than they expected.”
Bates said one of the highlights given by the international tourist that visited the country was that its people were friendly.