Tourism

The organizations’ executives held a meeting on Monday March 27. Ideas, challenges and opportunities were shared between the two companies to encourage a more collaborative approach toward tourism development.

Air Niugini’ s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Gary Seddon, recognized the efforts across the industry, to restart tourism after years of uncertainty and restrictions.

These businesses not only offer a unique tourism experience but also improve the livelihoods of communities along the track.

Lynn, who is about to lead his 101st expedition across the Kokoda Trail, said: “The decline in management started after Australian Government officials shifted responsibility for the management of the Kokoda Trail from PNG Tourism to the PNG Conservation Environment Protection Authority (CEPA).

“Since then, the Trail has been managed as a socio-environment resource rather than as a tourism enterprise,” said the Kokoda tour operator.

“When it was managed by PNG Tourism, trekker numbers increased dramatically by 1,440 percent from 365 per year in 2002 to 5,621 in 2008.

The opening of the Leemanda Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA) coincided with the presentation of financial assistance to a local community cultural and tourism project.

Minister Leonard acknowledged the magnificent scenery of the environment where the newly built church was built and in a kind gesture appreciated the work of the local community to promote tourism in this area.

“I pay tribute to the work of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in the province, the work of the gospel commission is everybody's business as Papua New Guinea is a Christian country,” he stated.

Minister Bishop was speaking about why Australia should invest more in PNG.

“I was particularly pleased to hear the Prime Minister talk about tourism because this is an area where we can partner much more closely with PNG.

Member countries are represented by their national tourism offices and these include Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, New Caledonia Tourism, Samoa Tourism Authority, Vanuatu Tourism and the Solomon Island Visitors Bureau.  Private sector participants are Turama Pacific, Air Caledonie International and Noumea Discovery Travel Company

In a statement, the Oxford Business Group said in mid-September, the government announced that Chinese tour groups travelling on trips sanctioned by PNG’s Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA) will be able to obtain visas on arrival, rather than having to apply months in advance, as had been the practice.

The MOU was signed between Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister and Kokopo MP, Emil Tammur, Provincial and National Government, and Asia Pacific Tourism Organisation (APTO).

The signing is geared to ensure Kokopo lives up to its name as the tourism hub of the country.

Minister Tammur said the signing now paves the way for work to begin so that the district and province can be ready to take in huge numbers of tourists.

Fiji continues to be the top destination in the region.

Arrivals to the organisation's member countries provisionally reached over 460,000 in the March quarter of 2018.

The latest quarterly review reports visitors to the Asia and Pacific region were up 8.2 percent from 7.3 percent in the December quarter.

The latest figures outperformed last March's quarter by about 6 percent.

CEO Chris Cocker said Fiji continues to be the top destination with 36.7 percent of visitors followed by French Polynesia at 9.7 percent, Palau on 7.3 and PNG 7.2.

Governor Parkop said the visit by the Russian navy officers in their warship was historic, conveying his warm welcome to them.

During a dialogue hosted yesterday in Parliament, he commended them for showing interest in the city which is hosting the APEC Leaders’ Summit in November.

Mr Parkop said the visit was a testament of Moscow placing value in the Indo-Pacific region.

He added that the countries had a long history dating back to the settlement of Russian scientist and traveler Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay in the country from 1846 to 1888.