Published on : Thursday, May 23, 2019
In 2018, these new air arrivals were part of almost 195,000 international visitors to PNG, with figure largely including people entering by cruise ships along with those arriving in the country for short and long-term employment.
The International Visitor Survey (IVS) carried out by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, in affiliation with the Papua New Guinea Tourism Association and the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute, indicates that visitors coming by air for tourism, business and to visit friends and relatives have risen by ten percent from 2017. From accommodation, airfares, and food and drinks, the biggest spending by those 95,000 visitors were noticed. The research shows that holiday visitors are the prime spenders, staying on an average of 10 nights and exhausting more than USD$2,500 per person per trip. As they only made up 33 percent of total visitors in 2018, this has risen from 26 percent of total visitors in 2017. Business travelers are the largest group of visitors whatsoever. They make up 50 percent of people arriving by air in PNG. These business travelers stay about nine nights in the country, spending about USD$2,170 per person per trip.
“The survey shows the potential for Papua New Guinea to grow its tourism market, with a seven percent increase in holiday makers arriving by air in 2018, compared to the previous year,” said IFC’s Resident Representative for Papua New Guinea, John Vivian. “While the research shows visitors nominated safety and security as well as infrastructure as key areas for improvement, it’s significant that over 90 percent of people said they would return to the country.”