Up until the turn of the century, says prominent Papua New Guinea tourism operator Sir Peter
Barter, there were positive signs that tourism would continue to prosper providing
Papua New Guinea
Not so, however, statistics show.
Nusa Island Retreat, New Ireland province
Historically, much of the growth of the tourist industry is
directly related to overseas tour operators.
“In more recent years they have used their websites and
internet to expose their destinations and tours, most of whom concentrate on
their specific interests, as an example diving, trekking, birding and they know
how to market their tours.
“The number of operators featuring tours to PNG from North
America, Europe, UK , Japan , and Australia
“The exposure PNG received at this time resulted in the industry’s
growth.
“This coupled with other marketing by individual operators,
agents, airlines - not least Air Niugini - and hotels including the attendances
at tourist shows placed PNG in the right direction to expand the tourism
industry.”
Visiting cruise liner
mv Columbus
The decline began with circumstances beyond PNG’s
control: fuel price increases, SARS, terrorism,
and a general change in which PNG expected a continuation of the industry to
grow without the need to retain personal contact with the operators, many of
whom also suffered from the same effects.
Bamboo band, Madang
province
Most recently, the
worldwide economic situation and continuation of problems in the Middle East have frightened tourists, especially
Americans, from travelling internationally and to lesser-known destinations.
“Whilst Air Niugini cannot be blamed for the reduction in
tourism, the unreliability of schedules, cancelled and disrupted flights have
not been helpful over the past couple of years,” Sir Peter admits.
“Tourists from developed countries have become increasingly
aware of the ease to sue and tour operators are frequently targeted for not
providing the services described in their brochures, which in turn has forced
tour operators to sell destinations that are better known for their reliability
and safety.
“Another obstacle to developing tourism is the withdrawal of
commuter air services that previously linked the Highlands
with the coast and islands.
“A tourist visiting PNG wanting to see each of the
geographic regions is forced to fly back to Port Moresby
“This not only wastes time, but also substantially increases
the airfares, making PNG more expensive to visit.
“The law-and-order situation in PNG is another obstacle and
we have failed to handle this situation well in PNG.
“A good example where it has been handled well is in Fiji
“In PNG, we have done nothing!
“Perhaps worse than the law and order problem itself is the
perception created by the various ‘Travelers Alerts’ that are widely dispersed
to travel agents, airlines and consumers.
“Having read some on PNG, it is a wonder anyone comes to
PNG!
“An industry association no longer appears to exist!
“If it does it is not effective!
“In Fiji ,
the Fiji Visitors Bureau along with the Fiji
“It goes without saying that a travel or tourism association
in PNG could do the same, yet, attempts to date have really failed to support a
number of attempts to establish industry associations.”
Sir Peter, however, is not all a harbinger of doom about
PNG’s tourism industry.
“There are many types of tourism catering for various
interest groups,” he lightens up.
“The one segment that has been doing relatively well is the
Kokoda Track, but this year, again, there has been a large decrease in numbers
of people walking Kokoda.
“PNG is well-known for its spectacular diving and the dive
segment has always shown some growth, but over the past year, it also has
experienced a decrease.
“For more than 30 years I have endeavoured to develop a cruising
segment and finally sold the Melanesian Discoverer because it was becoming
almost impossible to transport our passengers to and from the ship by Air
Niugini and charter aircraft in and out of the Sepik .
“Since we sold the ‘Discoverer’, we have been assisting
international expeditionary vessels continue to operate in PNG waters.
“We act as ships and tour agents for most tourist vessels
visiting PNG and again, the difficulties experienced by the owners of these
vessels deter many from coming back into PNG.
“I will not go into the detail, but excessive charges of
fees levied, overtime claims by officers, inconsistent rules, policies, charges
for services not provided are just some of the obstacles faced in handling
tourist vessels.
“TPA and PNG
Ports
So how does Sir Peter see things in his crystal ball?
“It is encouraging to see competition on the Cairns/Port
Moresby route and equally encouraging is the development of more hotel rooms in
Port Moresby
“Regretfully, most of these rooms have not been built to
cater for bona fide tourists, rather, commercial travellers and work related
accommodation due to the development of resource projects under way in PNG.
“Whilst Cairns is gearing up to cater for increased visitors
that are expected to fly in and out of PNG with the LNG project, little is being
done to encourage imported workers to either reside in PNG or take the R and R
(rest and recreation) in PNG.
“It is difficult to force this issue unless confidence can
be restored as to the safety of the various potential tourist destinations in
PNG and this should be one of the tourist industry’s prime objective.
“It makes sense to attract workers in the LNG project to
really see PNG and return to whence they come as good ambassadors, rather than
pessimists, spreading doom and gloom about PNG which is not warranted.
“We spend millions of kina on the development of our natural
resources that ultimately will be exhausted.
“The one industry that is sustainable is tourism and yet it
is not given the priority it deserves in PNG.”
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