Tourism

Papua New Guinea is one of the world’s most intriguing destinations.

Astudy of PNG tourism by the International Finance Corporation has found that, for the first six months of 2018 there were 34,600 visitors to PNG. They spent a total of US$78 million (K260 million), an average of US$2262 (K7529) per trip.

The IFC found that 54 per cent of visitors to PNG in the first six months of 2018 arrived for business purposes.

Thirty per cent were tourists, and 16 per cent arrived to visit family and friends.

The study looked at tourism numbers between January and June of 2018. It found that visitors spent on average K757 per day. Almost twothirds of visitors were male. Forty per cent had a household income under US$50,000, 34 per cent between US$50-100,000, and 26 per cent over US$100,000. ‘Culture and history’ was nominated as the top reason for holiday visitors to choose PNG.

The IFC believes the tourism market has potential to grow.

‘With the right investments in infrastructure, capacity building, product development and marketing and tackling regulatory issues, PNG could receive an extra US$117 million (K391 million) per year in niche market tourism revenues and position itself as a globally recognised tourism destination.’

Markets

Fifty three per cent of visitors were from the Australian market, which is ‘predominantly a mature, male market with most visitors aged between 40 and 70.’ The New Zealand holiday tourism market is described as ‘split’, with a grouping of younger travellers and a grouping of older travellers.

The North America holiday market is the ‘highest yielding and oldest market’ for PNG.

‘Given the demographics, high spend and low rates of interest in returning, Papua New Guinea is seen as a once-in-a-lifetime destination. With the older demographic, accessibility is likely a concern for this market.

‘For North American visitors, cultural activities are important. Travel agents play an important role in marketing the destination and booking travel.’

The high yielding European holiday market has the longest average length of stay in PNG. The lower age range and high percentage of male travellers indicates a trend toward adventure travel.’tourism from other Pacific Islands is described as ‘a young market’, reflecting the demographics of the region.

The National Government has set out long-term plans to promote the industry, the National Tourism

Master Plan. Tokua airport (New Rabaul airport) will be redeveloped to international standards including upgrading the airport’s runway to cater for direct flights from Australia, China and Japan. The aim is to achieve 1.5 million tourists per year by 2030.

The Prime Minister, Peter O’neill, believes that PNG has the ability to compete with destinations like Bali and Fiji.

‘In Kokopo, we want to build up to at least 2000 beds. The government will partner all the landowners and provincial governments and some of the funds that are now invested elsewhere in the Pacific we will encourage to be invested in our country. You will see quite a steady stream of long-term tourists come into the country.’ 

YOU WILL SEE QUITE A STEADY STREAM OF LONGTERM TOURISTS COME INTO THE COUNTRY.