Transcript
BECKY LAST: So the work that IFC has been doing with the Tourism Promotion Authority here in Papua New Guinea has been to identify five niche markets that we believe have really high potential for PNG given its unique cultural and geographical assets. So those five niche markets are cultural tourism, soft adventure, birdwatching, diving and historical tourism.
JOHNNY BLADES: But this has been the story for years hasn't it, people have been talking about the untapped potential of PNG tourism, yet it doesn't seem to break through, for lack of, I don't know, investment or some sort of will.
BL: I think that's a fair comment, but what's really exciting at the moment is that the sector and the government are recognising tourism's potential, and asking us to develop a series of investment recommendations that will really allow them to reach its potential. So we have some recommendations which we have shared with the industry here in the last day or so. And using those recommendations, we're really optimistic that we'll be able to see a substantial growth in tourism arrivals, and really get the value from those tourism arrivals. But what we're really looking to do is to understand the types of travellers that will come to PNG for the opportunities that already exist. The investments are in a range of things. So not just infrastructure but also product development, the development of guide assets, really helping the country to maximise what it's got while some of these bigger picture infrastructure needs are being addressed in the background.
JB: So who would you say would be an ideal kind of tourist coming to PNG?
BL: The visitors coming to PNG are a really interesting range of international arrivals, but predominantly Australian. About a quarter of them are Australian, a quarter of them are actually holiday travellers. It's a lower segmentation than the overall visitor arrivals. So we're seeing a mix of business travellers, travellers visiting friends and family, as well as the tourism arrivals. But with those tourism arrivals being only approximately 25 percent of the overall picture, there's a huge opportunity to grow that section.
JB: The government has said things about it, but there's not a lot of money available at the moment to invest. So where is the money going to need to come from?
BL: I think the private sector has a role to play in this. And certainly, when we're looking at these investment recommendations, we are recognising there are some limitations in place around what the government can offer in budgetary support, and what the private sector can offer as well. But the investments that we're recommending, there's a range of different things that we can do. So some of them are small scale investments and some of them are large scale investments. We're really wanting to highlight the opportunities, and bring forward the potential results if these investment recommendations are implemented.
JB: What are some of these small scale examples?
BL: So these are things around product development, the development of specialised guiding for example. So we know that bird watching is a really important growth market in the global sense, and Papua New Guinea has phenomenal assets in this regard. It has some really unique bird species, and we know that bird travellers are prepared to travel distance and put up with some slightly more basic infrastructure in order to be able to see these dream birds that are on their wish list. So in this sense, if we invest in the specialist guides, then we already have a way to attract those visitors into the country. And that's a relatively small scale investment that we can make.
JB: People often mention the reputational factor which was seen - I'm not sure if it still is - as a bit of an obstacle to pulling people, people who might be concerned about the security situation in PNG.
BL: There may well be that perception. But again, what the PNG 2017 International Visitor Survey shows is that when people come, they actually love it. In those statistics we saw that 75 percent of visitors graded their trip as being satisfied. 92 percent said they would return. So you really can't ask for a stronger endorsement. The people is one of the strongest elements that came through when we asked people what they enjoyed most about their trip. And I think this friendliness, and the cultural uniqueness of the destination, is really what we're looking to optimise through these niche market recommendations.
