Taiwan minister sees culture as tourism catalyst

A ministerial delegate from Taiwan says Papua New Guinea should start appreciating its many cultures and languages and use them to attract tourists.
“You can attract tourists to appreciate the variety of cultures you have here in PNG by starting to respect the variety of languages you have,” Taiwan’s Minister of Transport and Communications Tan Ho Chan said in Kavieng on Saturday.
He was part of the tourism delegation in PNG for the Apec tourism ministers’ meeting making a visit to New Ireland.
Representatives of 16 countries attended the meetng in Port Moresby last week.
Ho Chan said languages were important to culture and different languages should convey different environmental messages. Learning more about the language, people will know more about the environment.
“I have come to PNG twice and I now have fair knowledge about the country and appreciate the variety of different aboriginal culture it has,” he said. “Certainly, I can see how much effort the PNG government has put to Apec summit meeting to hold a series of different ministry-level conferences.
“The Apec meetings I’ve attended so far and the 10th tourism ministers’ meeting are well managed and I can see your minister (Emil Tammur) is younger, more energetic and speaks confidently; making the meeting more efficient and a good occasion to exchange ideas.”