Financial assistance for festival

The Minister for Tourism Arts and Culture has committed K20, 000.00 to the Kopen Take Pii festival, comprising of K10,000 each from the National Cultural Commission (NCC) and the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority (PNGTPA).

Minister Isi Henry Leonard said Papua New Guinea is unique and diverse and has a lot of potential for tourism opportunities, but the challenge today of the Covid-19 pandemic is far greater and the only way to overcome the adverse effect is to promote local tourism in the country.

“Let’s make it easy and simple by going back to the village to promote our culture. In tourism, variety is important. This country has a great potential so we need to revive our cultures by dedicating more time to it,” Minister Leonard said.

NCC Executive Director, Steven Kilanda also encouraged the people of Kopen to take ownership of their culture and support others to do likewise.

He emphasized the importance of culture as the single biggest standalone tourism product and the fallback after the exhaustion of oil, gas and other extractive minerals.

PNGTPA Chief Executive Officer Eric Uvovo put the value of culture at US $450 billion. He said, in a joint international survey conducted by TPA, the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation, the estimated value of culture in PNG is in the hundreds of billions dollars.

Both Uvovo and Kilanda thanked Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas for his support in the tourism, arts and culture sector in Enga, as tribal infighting in the province is the only hurdle slowing down progress and development in the province.

Author: 
Press Release