Minister wants more support for tourism industry to grow

By MAX KILIWA
TOURISM, Arts and Culture Minister Isi Henry Leonard has urged Papua New Guineans to support and use domestic tourism to promote and grow the industry rather than relying solely on tourists from overseas.
Leonard said this in Port Moresby upon returning from Port Vila, Vanuatu with the team who participated in the seventh Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival recently.
Leonard said that PNG had so many cultures across its 22 provinces and had rich and diverse traditions with tradition that needed to be appreciated by its own people not just international tourists and invited more Papua New Guineans to see their own country; he said promoting domestic tourism was an obvious strategy to drive and maintain the industry.
“We go to Sepik to witness the crocodile festival, Samarai to witness the yam festival, we go to Oro to see the butterfly, or walk the Kokoda Track and visit and every culture to promote tourism,” he said.
Leonard said that in order to attract tourists, people had to change their negative mindsets and instead have positive outlooks and respect each other and work for everyone’s benefit.
He added that law and order issues continued to plague the country and PNG needed to change in this regard.
He observed that Vanuatu was a more peaceful and harmonious society which allowed tourism to flourish all year round.
He said many international tourists who attended the festival in Port Vila had commented that they were interested in visiting PNG.