Tourism

In an exclusive interview with Loop PNG the Buka town manager Eddie Kenai said it is one of his main objectives.

“This is the gate way into the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and it must be attractive, beautiful and most importantly clean,” Kenai said.

“We have already got a tourism development Programme in place and our focus is to make Buka the tourism hub for the whole of Bougainville, and also our other focus is to make sure our tourism infrastructures are in place guest houses  and so on,” he said.

But there are some things that are needed to be in place to make the industry grow and prosper in order to contribute to the regions development.

The introduction of direct flights from the nearby Solomon Islands into Aropa airport is one, and the re-introduction of insurance companies to come back into the region. Right now tourist’s assets like cars and boats cannot be insured on Bougainville but has to be done from outside.

Edward Magarua Kiza, a former public servant and now a successful businessman in Madang, says the only way for his Usino-Bundi people to get out of poverty and unnecessary traditional obligations and participate in economic changes is to learn and understand the standard business principles.

He said this during the launching of the Wekumara Poultry Project workshop on January 31, at Uria Village in the Ward 19 area of Usino LLG.

The Member for Moresby South now holds two portfolios; Sports and Events, and Tourism, Culture and Arts Ministries.

 “It’s been a privilege for me to take up the acting capacity over the last few months, and been a former tourism minister in the previous term of government I do have a background in tourism,” Abel said.

Abel maintains his Planning Ministry portfolio in the cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill on Monday.   

This Surfing Association PNG-World Surf League (WSL) surf tour championship will be held at Tupira in Madang Province.

About 60 athletes are expected to take part in this world event plus 20 WSL staff and the local and international media.

SAPNG president Andrew Abel says that this planned event will have very strong international promotion.

The event will be a live broadcast to the world plus being an international program to distribute globally with focus on SAPNG policies.

SPTE organisers, the South Pacific Tourism Organization’s (SPTO) Chief Executive Ratu Ilisoni Vuidreketi said the popular tourist destination was chosen due to the request and feedback from private sector members in the Pacific region.

It’s the third year for the event to be held and coincides with other major events such as the Australian Tourism Exchange that will take place a week prior.

The South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) conducted six in-country consultations through workshops and stakeholder discussions at a national level to seek valuable feedback from the private and public sector to develop the PCTDS. 

The workshops focused on examining and evaluating key elements that were proposed during the Pacific Cruise Development workshop that was held in Melbourne in June this year. Stakeholders also discussed the best options to adopt in the strategy, keeping in mind the various action steps proposed to put each element into effect.

This was highlighted by council president Nouzab Fareed who is also the group chief executive of Fijian Holdings.

He said they aim to promote trade and investment and continue to work on shipping, customs and quarantine issues.

It is understood the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, will be announcing the name of the new Trade Commissioner to PNG soon.

Fareed said the Council had very actively been lobbying with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism on the appointment.

The South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) will participate in a regional tourism seminar in collaboration with partners from the Pacific Islands Trade & Invest (Sydney) and Australian-based national tourism offices of Tahiti, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Niue, Solomon Islands, Samoa and Cook Islands.

Alex Resture, Seluka Resture  and Isopo Sokomani said they chose  to buy a Highlands string bag known as a bilum in Papua New Guinea pidgin among others to take home to show to their relatives.

Resture said the string bag cost them K80 to buy from a crafts trader from Enga.

The three athletes who are members of their country's tennis ball team in the  SP Games also described Port Moresby as "a giant city in the Pacific" besides Australia and New Zealand with world standard sports facilities that are capable of hosting the Commonwealth Games.