PNG Tourism

Over 3000 tourists on the Queen Elizabeth Two, which had sailed from Australia, were restricted from disembarking at Rabaul by the local administration late last month due to coronavirus fears

Rabaul Hotel owner Susan McGrade organised a subsequent meeting of local tourism operators.

She said operators wanted to know why East New Britain governor Nakikus Konga decided to deny access to the ship despite it being cleared by PNG's health department.

This was slightly below the Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority’s focus to record 200,000 arrivals in 2015.

Statistics from PNGTPA has revealed that in 2015, PNG received about 198,685 international visitors.

PNGTPA acting chief executive officer Eric Mossman Uvovo said the huge drop in arrival is due to employment and the wind down of the LNG construction.

The arrivals in 2015 indicate that nearly 35 percent (69,540) of our visitors come for business purposes.