Survey spots need to diversify tourism

The National Business

THE need to diversify the tourism sector was an obvious highlight in the presentation of International Visitors Survey 2017 results at a workshop this week.
The survey was a joint project between the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority and the World Bank through its International Finance Corporation.
Diversifying the sector would need greater collaboration between the private sector, communities and the government and that was
the general sentiment among
stakeholders at the workshop discussions.
This was projected to earn the country about K890 million by 2027, if niche markets were targeted.
Air Niugini general manager commercial Dominic Kaumu expressed this feeling in the questions-and-answers session.
“There has to be a collective effort,” he said.
“We as an airline, for example, cannot plan for the future unless we know what the government is doing according to its development plans, we cannot get new aircraft unless we know the domestic capabilities
being built around the domestic network.”
He said he was pleased with the survey and that Air Niugini would take on issues contained in it relating to its operations.
“Because tourism is important to us as well and we will commit to working with stakeholders to develop the sector to a level we want to see it at.”
The main points in the survey are:

  • About 86,000 visitors came to PNG and spent about US$205 million (K667m) last year – US$2371 (K7700) per person per trip.
  • 37 per cent were for business, 26 per cent for holidays and 19 per cent were individuals who came to see family and friends; and,
  • The top 3 subsectors benefiting from tourism were accommodation (US$80 million), airlines (US$61.2 million) and food and beverage (US$20.4 million)