Tourism regional office closure

Tourism regional office closure

By Patrick Matbob

Mambo Pipoi and her pots

Mambo Pipoi finished firing her pots; the small, medium and large bronze earthen vessels lay cooling in a pile by the roadside. Like most elderly PNG village women, she was stripped to her waist for this hot, sweaty task.

Pots were a source of income for Mambo and her people from Bilbil village and for many years has been a major tourist attraction in Madang. Today though Mambo had been disturbed by some bad news. The Tourism Promotion Authority’s (TPA) Momase Regional Office had closed down in April and the Manager Erigeri Singin was going back to Port Moresby. Mambo was sad that Ms Singin, who was like a daughter to her, was leaving and wondered if her departure would affect the little income that came from pottery.

As part of her job, Ms Singin had been working closely with the Bilbil people in promoting and marketing their unique cultural attractions such as the pots, traditional singsings and canoe making. Ms Singin had also been developing and promoting other village level tourism products such as guesthouses and attractions in the Momase region. The news that she was leaving had come as blow to those she helped.

“TPA promotes us and our resources. If they close down, what will happen to promotion?” asked an alarmed Gerhard Salib, the Bilbil village youth president.

Mr. Salib said in Bilbil they put on traditional singsings for visitors for a fee.

Last year traditional singsing shows had earned the village K5, 250. Some of the money was divided among the participants while the rest was kept in an account.

“I appeal to them to reopen the office or our income will drop,” said Mr. Salib.

Money or lack of it, is the main reason why the TPA regional offices have been closed down, said Sir Peter Barter, Acting Chairman of the Tourism Promotion Authority Board.

“There’s too little money. There’s very little capacity for tourism promotions and we were unlikely to get results,” Mr. Barter said from his office at Madang Resort Hotel.

The decision to abolish the regional offices was taken last year.

Initially, four regional offices for TPA were established. However, the Highlands office in Mt Hagen office failed due to lack of support and the islands office in Kavieng closed down following a dispute with the local authorities. The Momase office was well run, however, lacked support from the Madang Provincial Government. In fact, the provincial tourist office in Madang closed several months earlier due to lack of money.

Last year, the TPA Board wanted to set up their regional offices under the Regional Secretariats, which were established by the Provincial Governments in the four regions of the country. The Board had written to the Secretariats offering that TPA would share the costs of establishing tourist offices in each region under the Secretariats however, there has been no response so far. Officers from the Port Moresby TPA office will now look after the regions.

Outgoing Momase Regional Manager for TPA, Ms Singin however said TPA can not effectively promote tourism from Port Moresby because it is too far away from the major tourists’ destinations.

“I see such offices in the provinces as good investment in tourism industry and the right direction to go.

“The industry has to develop and make money. Closing down regional office does not help,” she said.

“It is the little people who will suffer. They are directly being hit as developers of culture, nature based, community or eco-tourism.

Ms Singin said hotels and bigger operators would survive because they have the resources and contacts with tourists and the system is suitable for them.

For the small guesthouse operators in Madang, the closure of the TPA Regional office in Madang adds to the hardships they have been facing.

Moyang Okira owns Kekki guesthouse in the cool mountains of Madang some 200 kilometres from the town and represents resource owners like him.

“It’s time that the government of this province with its concerned authorities should really get the small people of this province off the ground and let them enjoy the maximum benefit,” Mr. Okira told a recent tourism conference in Madang. Mr. Okira and other small operators face problems such as poor road and transport access to their sites, and lack of communications facilities.

“We small resource owners with much help from the concerned authorities like TPA and MV&CB (Madang Visitors & Cultural Bureau) can be able to raise the level of quality customer services to meet the demand.

 However, the tourism industry in PNG has not been doing well. Acting TPA Chairman Sir Peter Barter said there is a general decline in tourist arrivals.

“It is essential that PNG attract sufficient tourists to support village lodges, guest houses as well as existing hotels and other facilities. The single biggest problem we face today in tourism is that we do not have any tourists!”

Sir Peter said the TPA Board, Air Niugini and a number of operators were working under very difficult circumstances to address this problem. He said the new direct Air Niugini Sydney service and the recently announced air services to Osaka and Narita may help reverse this situation.

However, he said this is not enough to restore the tourist arrivals we have lost as a perception of a bad image real or otherwise.

He said TPA and Air Niugini have embarked on a program to bring more journalists, film units, travel agents, and tour operators to PNG.

“Even this effort will not immediately bring results, it will take many years of constant promotion to make tourism a meaningful industry and an industry that will filter right down into the grass root areas,” Mr. Barter said.

“You can’t help if you don’t have tourists,” Mr. Barter said. “We must have steady flow of tourists before we can send them to the lodge and guests houses.”

Meanwhile, Madang province’s newly established Provincial Tourism Planning Committee is regretful that the regional office has been closed. The committee was established following a tourism forum co-ordinated by the outgoing TPA Regional Manager, Ms Singin last year.

The Committee Chairman, Mr. Peter Muriki said Ms Singin’s involvement was to the advantage of the province.

One of the committee major tasks was to develop a tourism plan for Madang.

“Madang Government does not have a tourism policy in place,” said Mr. Muriki who is also the General Manager of the Madang Development Corporation, the business arm of the Madang Government. He said the provincial government is aware of the need to have a policy in place but so far has not done so. This year the Madang Provincial Government has budgeted money to get consultants to draw up a tourism policy for the province.

“With a tourism plan, then the industry can be developed to benefit everyone from five star hotels down to tiny guests houses,” he said.

“We want all operators to be involved.”

He said with Madang as a tourism spot, the TPA regional office should be established in Madang.

High up in the mountains surrounding the Kekki guesthouse, the mist seeped in amongst the leaves and tree trunks of the pristine rainforests that shrouded the steep mountainsides. The birds of paradise split the silent air with their sharp calls. They were visible high on the treetops yet isolated from the rest of the world only kilometres away. Bird watching was a main feature at Kekki apart from hard trekking or just enjoying the beauty of the wilderness. For now though, it seems this enchanting place will remain locked away from tourists and visitors for some time until a proper tourism industry can be developed to attract more visitors to Madang and PNG.

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