PNG Among Nat Geo's Top 21 World Travel Destinations
21 May, 2017
21 May, 2017
The PNGTPA is proud to
announce that PNG has been selected as one of National Geographic Traveller’s
21 “Best of the World’s Destinations” for 2017.
The PNG Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA) is proud to
announce that Papua New Guinea has been selected as one of National Geographic Traveller's 21
"Best of the World Destinations" for 2017.
The highly anticipated
annual list was unveiled in the December 2016/January 2017 issue of the
magazine and has gone on sale on newsstands globally since November 29 and is
also online at NatGeoTravel.com/BestTrips2017
TPA chief Executive officer
Mr Jerry Agus said National Geographic is the world’s top traveller’s magazine
and for PNG to get its endorsement as one of the world’s best ‘must see’
destinations in 2017, was simply awesome.
HSS Prince Albert II of Monaco visits Madang
His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco graced Madang with his presence flying into Madang on November 30 and leaving on December 2, 2012.
The Prince, whose foundation-The Prince Albert II Foundation, is one of the major financiers of the Papua Niugini Biodiversityexpedition currently being undertaken at Mt Wilhelm and Madang, had made this private visit to see first-hand the progress of work being done. The expedition has been in progress for over a month by a group of scientists from 20 countries.
Prince Charles endears himself to PNG villagers by using local lingo during tour
THE Prince of Wales called himself the "number one child belonging to the Queen" when he said: “Nambawan pikinini bilong misis kwin”.
 |
| The Prince of Wales met dancers in traditional dress |
He spoke to a villager in traditional dress made of tree leaves during a trip to Papua New Guinea.
The prince endeared himself by using the local lingo, calling himself “Nambawan pikinini bilong misis kwin”.
And as we all know, that means the number one child belonging to the Queen.
His wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, was kissed at the event in coastal Boera by topless 24-year-old Jenny Lohia.
Jenny said later: “I’m proud of myself for giving her that kiss – it’s one in a million. She was so happy.”
Charles, colonel-in-chief of the Royal Pacific Islands Regiment, was visiting Papua New Guinea on behalf of the Queen.
She is head of state and Charles was there to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee.
Source: Daily Record
Royals farewelled
By GORETHY KENNETHPAPUA New Guinea yesterday gave Their Royal Highnesses Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall an emotional farewell.
The Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla left the shores of Papua New Guinea with “immense regret, but also with the shouts of welcome ringing in our ears,” as Prince Charles echoed on Sunday night during the farewell dinner hosted by the Governor-General.
And to make the trip even more emotional, Prince Charles bade farewell to a PNG friend Fr Lucas Begiji, a friend he met at the Anglican Martyrs Memorial High School for boys in 1966 in Northern Province when he was 18, and one who hosted him in his Sefoa garden house for two nights.
They hugged, both shed some tears and Prince Charles was presented a black and white picture which he showed to his wife Camilla of them both in front of their Garden House taken in 1966.
They are both 64 this year and still remember each other as best friends. But the Royal farewell yesterday at Jackson’s international airport was one that had Prince Charles fight back tears as he bade farewell to the people that were his “friends and hosts” for the last three days of their visit.
He was truly given the PNG taste with culture and its traditions, one he says he still remembers very well from his last three visits here.
Read more...
PNG to feature at major Travel Show in UK
Papua New Guinea's potential as an exotic and alluring tourist destination will be featured for the first time at the World Travel Market, which will take place between November 5 The event will see 4000 exhibitors and travel service providers from across the world and is known to be the place to be for spotting trends and forecasts in the tourism industry.
Read more...
Papua New Guinea: Expanding tourism Asia | 6 Aug 2012
With visitor arrival numbers and tourism spend both up in recent years, Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) tourism sector is showing solid signs of consistent growth. A renewed focus on niche markets, particularly adventure and ecotourism, has seen international recognition of the burgeoning sector. However, a lack of infrastructure and security issues could frustrate further achievements.
The government is targeting 1.5m visitors and $6.28bn in tourism receipts by 2030, and the latest figures from the Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA) indicate that it is on the right track. Visitor arrival numbers more than doubled from 77,730 in 2006 to 165,059 in 2011. In the same period, average spend grew 47% to $6133, and the average length of stay hit 20.4 days in 2011.
To continue these trends, the government is beginning to focus on the country’s natural attractions. With more than 600 islands, a landmass of 470,000 sq km and a population of just 6.5m, PNG remains one of the world’s last frontier destinations, replete with adventure destination options and a myriad of animal and plant species.
According to Peter Vincent, CEO of the TPA, the difficult terrain is considered central to PNG’s market positioning. “We would like to classify PNG as an adventure destination more than a mass tourism destination, such as Fiji and other Pacific Island countries,” he told OBG. “In the near future, we would like to develop into one of the world’s leading adventure destinations, which offers niche segments for diving, trekking, surfing and bird watching.”
Events in 2012 may provide a welcome boost to this goal. This year marked the 70th anniversary of the Second World War battle on the Kokoda Trail, PNG’s foremost tourist attraction and a pilgrimage site for Australians, New Zealanders, Americans and Japanese. This year’s anniversary received notable public promotion and support from the Australian government, alongside widespread promotional campaigns in collaboration with PNG’s national airline, Air Niugini.
Consequently, tour operators along the 60-km mountainous jungle track are projecting an annual influx of 7000-8000 trekkers – a 50% increase on any previous year – with 2000 tourists reportedly having booked for April’s anniversary alone. Such initiatives have helped push Australians to PNG’s top demographic, registering 17,873 visitors in 2011, a 74.6% increase on 2006.
Moreover, with unofficial estimates that 63% of all tourists visiting the country trek the Kokoda Trail, the success of this year’s event is likely to attract further interest. Operators along the trail are already gearing up with the recent formation of the Kokoda Track Operators’ Association and the Kokoda Track Porters & Guides Association, mirroring organisations in Nepal’s trekking industry. These new organisations will regulate and license the operators, provide support to local communities and protect guides and porters from exploitation.
International recognition has also come for PNG’s surf scene. While currently a low-yield niche that attracts a backpacker demographic, the segment is expected to take off after the world premiere of the PNG surfing documentary “Splinters” at the 2011 Tribeca film festival in Hawaii went on to take the year’s best surfing documentary. This led directly to collaboration between the Surfing Association of PNG and the Quiksilver Foundation, and TIME magazine is set to cover PNG’s 2012 national surfing competition.
And just recently, filmmaker and explorer James Cameron piloted the Deepsea Challenger, a single-pilot submersible built to withstand crushing pressure at the bottom of the ocean, to a depth of more than 8km near the southern edge of the Mariana Trench, off the coast of PNG.
Such international accreditations and attention should help put PNG tourism on the map, as will Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s June announcement that $4.83m per year over the next five years will be invested in PNG’s global tourism campaigns to boost visitor arrivals.
Yet this is no guarantee of more business. The government faces significant aviation and terrestrial infrastructure shortfalls that continue to delay the development of a cohesive and coordinated national tourism industry. International and domestic infrastructure limitations make travel expensive and, with a shortage of hotels, rates have been topping out at $385-483 per night in Port Moresby in 2012. Security concerns are also a long-standing deterrent for the industry.
While substantial change in PNG’s tourism market remains distant, 2012 is likely to be a formative year for the sector as upcoming events may prove to be a long-awaited catalyst for expansion.
Source: Oxford Business, August 2012
The government is targeting 1.5m visitors and $6.28bn in tourism receipts by 2030, and the latest figures from the Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA) indicate that it is on the right track. Visitor arrival numbers more than doubled from 77,730 in 2006 to 165,059 in 2011. In the same period, average spend grew 47% to $6133, and the average length of stay hit 20.4 days in 2011.
To continue these trends, the government is beginning to focus on the country’s natural attractions. With more than 600 islands, a landmass of 470,000 sq km and a population of just 6.5m, PNG remains one of the world’s last frontier destinations, replete with adventure destination options and a myriad of animal and plant species.
According to Peter Vincent, CEO of the TPA, the difficult terrain is considered central to PNG’s market positioning. “We would like to classify PNG as an adventure destination more than a mass tourism destination, such as Fiji and other Pacific Island countries,” he told OBG. “In the near future, we would like to develop into one of the world’s leading adventure destinations, which offers niche segments for diving, trekking, surfing and bird watching.”
Events in 2012 may provide a welcome boost to this goal. This year marked the 70th anniversary of the Second World War battle on the Kokoda Trail, PNG’s foremost tourist attraction and a pilgrimage site for Australians, New Zealanders, Americans and Japanese. This year’s anniversary received notable public promotion and support from the Australian government, alongside widespread promotional campaigns in collaboration with PNG’s national airline, Air Niugini.
Consequently, tour operators along the 60-km mountainous jungle track are projecting an annual influx of 7000-8000 trekkers – a 50% increase on any previous year – with 2000 tourists reportedly having booked for April’s anniversary alone. Such initiatives have helped push Australians to PNG’s top demographic, registering 17,873 visitors in 2011, a 74.6% increase on 2006.
Moreover, with unofficial estimates that 63% of all tourists visiting the country trek the Kokoda Trail, the success of this year’s event is likely to attract further interest. Operators along the trail are already gearing up with the recent formation of the Kokoda Track Operators’ Association and the Kokoda Track Porters & Guides Association, mirroring organisations in Nepal’s trekking industry. These new organisations will regulate and license the operators, provide support to local communities and protect guides and porters from exploitation.
International recognition has also come for PNG’s surf scene. While currently a low-yield niche that attracts a backpacker demographic, the segment is expected to take off after the world premiere of the PNG surfing documentary “Splinters” at the 2011 Tribeca film festival in Hawaii went on to take the year’s best surfing documentary. This led directly to collaboration between the Surfing Association of PNG and the Quiksilver Foundation, and TIME magazine is set to cover PNG’s 2012 national surfing competition.
And just recently, filmmaker and explorer James Cameron piloted the Deepsea Challenger, a single-pilot submersible built to withstand crushing pressure at the bottom of the ocean, to a depth of more than 8km near the southern edge of the Mariana Trench, off the coast of PNG.
Such international accreditations and attention should help put PNG tourism on the map, as will Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s June announcement that $4.83m per year over the next five years will be invested in PNG’s global tourism campaigns to boost visitor arrivals.
Yet this is no guarantee of more business. The government faces significant aviation and terrestrial infrastructure shortfalls that continue to delay the development of a cohesive and coordinated national tourism industry. International and domestic infrastructure limitations make travel expensive and, with a shortage of hotels, rates have been topping out at $385-483 per night in Port Moresby in 2012. Security concerns are also a long-standing deterrent for the industry.
While substantial change in PNG’s tourism market remains distant, 2012 is likely to be a formative year for the sector as upcoming events may prove to be a long-awaited catalyst for expansion.
Source: Oxford Business, August 2012
Prime Minister O'Neill Plans to Invest in Tourism
Port Moresby: THE Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill announced plans to invest K10 million per year over the next five years into global tourism campaigns designed to boost Papua New Guinea’s international visitation numbers.
Tourism, he said, was an untapped resource and one that was often forgotten in the rush to pull minerals from the ground.
“Tourism offers huge potential for the country, not just in the shape of foreign exchange earnings but just as importantly from the perspective of job creation.
“As a country PNG has been truly blessed to have been bestowed with some of the most beautiful natural assets that any country could wish for.
Tourism, he said, was an untapped resource and one that was often forgotten in the rush to pull minerals from the ground.
“Tourism offers huge potential for the country, not just in the shape of foreign exchange earnings but just as importantly from the perspective of job creation.
“As a country PNG has been truly blessed to have been bestowed with some of the most beautiful natural assets that any country could wish for.
“Our scenery is breathtaking, our oceans and the opportunity they present to scuba divers and surfers are some of the best in the world, our trekking, and particularly the Kokoda Track, is legendary and everything is overlaid with one of the most vibrant, diverse and colourful cultures to be found anywhere on the planet.
“Tourism generates a plethora of jobs in many, many areas – fishing, agri-business, cultural activities, building, sport, transport and hospitality to name just a few.
Mr O’Neill said it was his intention to invest K10 million per year into the tourism sector, his aim being to see international tourism numbers increase by at least 20 per cent over the coming two years.
“Tourism is currently a minor industry in PNG but with this new investment and all funds focused on marketing our country, it is part of my plan over the next five years to improve and invest in international tourism marketing and tourism infrastructure to entice people from all over the globe to come and see our great country,” he said.
(Source: Post Courier-18 June, 2012)
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