PNG Chases the Tourists

W HILE IT is not exactly languishing, tourism in Papua New Guinea is in need of a significant boost. The PNG Department of Civil Aviation.

Tourism and Culture has identified many of the reasons for the country’s poor performance in its recent Five Year Tourism Development Plan; among them an inconsistent Government approach, inadequate promotion, high costs and a law and order situation “perceived as dangerous in the main international markets”.

Which is not to say that tour operators, hoteliers and resort managers are in difficulty: interest is still strong, but factors outside their control are limiting tourist inter est and access. The Government is moving already on several of the Plan’s recommendations, and a recent me dia tour to the Sepik and its fascinating diversity of land scapes, cultures and people is described on Page 50.

The challenges are twofold. As the Five Year Plan says, overseas “media editors should take a more responsible approach . . . and avoid sensational headlines.” It is cer tainly true that violence, rape and murder in PNG receive prominent coverage in Australia and New Zealand, es pecially when victims are European. But the inconsis tency of editorial attitudes, which fail to acknowledge that Sydney or Auckland are far more dangerous and violence prone than PNG, cannot begin to be combated until the Department’s promotion budget is closer to the recom mended K 25 million than its 1987 total of K 523,000.

The second challenge is to broaden the market base of tourism in PNG: to attract a greater number of visitors with more attractive exchange rates and prices, improved

access and better facilities. The current value of the kina is doing little to bring visitors: the Government’s aim of preserving PNG’s traditional culture is a laudable and mature one, but it must be balanced with the realisation that culture and tradition are dynamic.

Only by encouraging tourists can the income from tourism be used to protect the very things that attract vis itors and only visitors can convincingly give the lie to the sensational headlines. □

Traditional ways lure visitors to PNG.