Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Tobias Kulang has called on the Mt Hagen Show committee to return the show to its original venue at Kagamuga.
Kulang said this following reports that the current venue where it was stage was cramped and did not have a big corporate presence at the show.
He said the show was a critical event as far as promotion and preservation of the
Exotic cultural heritage was concerned.
The Minister was in Mt Hagen over the weekend at the invitation of the Mt Hagen Show Committee to officially open the show.
This year’s Mt Hagen Show makes the 57th year of its existence and this makes it one of the oldest cultural event in PNG.
At the opening of the show on Saturday, the Minister acknowledges the show in showcasing the rich cultural heritage of Western Highlands and the other six highlands provinces.
“The Mt Hagen Show is a very critical cultural event in as far as promotion and preservation of the deep Highlands’ cultural heritage and also exposing it to the outside world through cultural tourism,” the Minister said.
“Mt Hagen is the centre of the Highlands and it has the basic infrastructure to host large traffic of people and major events so the whole Highlands region can come together for such events,” said the Minister.
However, the Minister observed that the show was not staged at its traditional show ground at Kagamuga but at Rabiamul Catholic Mission area and commented that this is not good as the place was cramped. “Future shows must be returned to its traditional grounds where there is ample space for the show to be staged properly, thus attracting huge crowds which is good for the show and also for the Corporate Sponsors who may need to make a return for their support to the show,” the Minister said.
The Minister further observed that the number of foreign tourism were around 400 only and he was not happy.
“By now at its 57th birthday, the show should be attracting well over a 1,000 to 2,000 tourists. The potential has always been there but I think we are not structuring the show properly to attract the increased numbers,” Minister Kulang said.
“Also in order for the show to have the desired impact, leaders and stakeholders at every level of the society must work together to make things” “Politics destroys unity and kills progress and development,” the Minister said.
“Leadership at all levels and the community at large must recognise the immense potential embedded in the Tourism Industry which once unleased, can contribute immensely to economic development and sustainability of the province and the region,” the Minister said.
The Minister also commissioned the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority and National Cultural Commission to work with the Show Committee to structure future shows effectively, including moving it back to its traditional grounds at Kagamuga.
TPA CEO Jerry Agus and NCC Acting Executive Director Caspar Damien were on hand to receive the direction from the Minister.
The Minister also remarked that Mt Hagen is a blessed city as much of the wealth generated from the Highlands region is spent in Mt Hagen.
The Minister also advised that Mt Hagen is the third city of focus under the Tourism Zone Support Initiative policy of the National Government under Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and with the new international airport, other infrastructure development in the city including roads, water, sanitation and power is the focus of this Government.
“More tourists are going to come so apart from the annual Hagen show, other tourism products and sites like Kuk World Agriculture Heritage Centre and Baiyer River Wild Life and Bird Sanctuary must be revived and properly established to build the volume in the activities for tourism attraction.
The Minster thanked the Show Committee under the chairmanship of David Kombra and congratulated them for staging a wonderful show and presented them with cheque of K20,000 as part of the Ministry’s support to the show committee.