Tourism lost K500mil

The National Business

The country lost more than K500 million last year in tourism revenue due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19), an official says.
Papua New Guinea Tourism Industry Association board member Andrew Abel said reopening of international borders was still a challenge with low vaccination rates in the country.
Abel said during the national tourism forum in Port Moresby yesterday that partnerships with all stakeholders was needed to ensure the industry survived.
He said despite the adverse impact of the Covid-19 on local tourism industry, they could not afford to “sit around and procrastinate” and “expect the Government to rescue our industry on their own”.
Abel said the Covid-19 vaccination rates were a major deciding factor in the reopening of borders, flights and willingness of international visitors to come to Papua New Guinea.
“We have to look at Fiji opening up their borders with vaccination around 80 per cent,” he said.
“Australia is opening its borders and tourists are able to fly to Thailand, Fiji and other countries in the Asia Pacific region.
“In PNG, we have a very low vaccination rate, we have to come up with some solutions in order for our borders to open.”
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Isi Henry Leonard said as an alternative developing domestic tourism was a way forward.
“We must not sit down but be proactive,” he said.
Leonard said PNG was rich with diverse cultures and traditions and more Papua New Guineans needed to see and experience its vibrant cultures.
“We have to move tourism forward despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19, domestic tourism is the way and we must do it right,” he said.
“We have more than 800 different languages and cultures, if we go local, we can have 800 different events.”
TPA chief executive officer Eric Uvovo said due to the Covi-19 pandemic, PNG recorded a drop of 82 per cent or 170,000 less arrivals compared to the 210,980 international arrivals received in 2019.
Holiday arrivals to the country fell by 87 per cent representing an estimated K500 million in lost revenue last year.