Published on : Friday, September 28, 2018
At the signing ceremony between the national Government, East New Britain and China’s Asia Pacific Tourism Organization (Apto), PNG Tourism Arts and Culture Minister Emil Tammur said that people should be ready to welcome huge numbers of tourists.
The expansion of Tokua Airport, improvement and building of roads in Kokopo, building of new hotels and improving hotel capacity were some of the projects that are immediate.
Apto is a non-government organization founded in Hong Kong in 2008. It has a membership of 27 countries including China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, India and Russia.
It is an important international organization in the Asia-Pacific tourism industry based in Hong Kong with its secretariat office in Beijing.
Apto President He Guangye said that the agreement would see major infrastructural development projects being delivered and improved.
Guangye said that the agreement would prepare the province for influx of visitors from the Asian region, especially China, which had 1.3 million people travelling every year.
He said that the Chinese tourists are the biggest spenders in the world.
Guangye said, “Due to the high purchasing power of China, we must build more shopping malls to help improve the lives of our people in the province and PNG. After all this is done, people from China and other parts of Asia will visit PNG to bring tourism to the next level.”
Tags: Agreement signed, Kokopo, tourism projects