Layover takes toll on travel industry

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PINA Nius) — Air Niugini’s new schedule for Sydney has been described by tourism operators as bad for the industry – because passengers for PNG tourism destinations will have to stay overnight in Port Moresby.

They say not many people wanted to overnight in Port Moresby given the city’s bad image overseas, especially in Australia.

Several tourist operators said the new schedule for international flights from Sydney does not allow for same day connections to other destinations throughout the country.

The same applies for passengers who are leaving the country on the Sydney flight, where they are forced to overnight in Port Moresby.

Bruce Alexander, general manager of the Hamamas Hotel in Rabaul, said: “It doesn’t fit tourism; it’s going to destroy us. We feel in the Rabaul area that it’s going to put us back 20 years.”

Air Niugini’s chief executive officer Peter Roberts said the bulk of their passengers were not affected, especially those coming from Manila, the United States, and Europe, who travel through Singapore.

He said the tour operators should look at the bigger picture, where the airline is trying to bring more tourists into the country.

Mr. Roberts said as a result of the new schedule, there are more people coming into the country because of improved services to Brisbane and Sydney, and direct connections to America and other parts of the world.

It is only those using the Sydney route who will have to overnight in Port Moresby before connecting to other parts of the country.

Places that can take night flights are Nadzab, Madang, Lihir, Port Moresby and Rabaul.

Mr. Roberts said one option to solve this problem would be for some planes to overnight in centers like Rabaul for passengers to leave early in the morning to make connections.

There will be further deliberations during a meeting between Air Niugini and dive operators in Walindi tomorrow.

It is understood another meeting has also been planned for tourist operators in Rabaul and the airline for Saturday, but that is yet to be confirmed.

The airline and the Tourism Promotion Authority are concentrating on advertising to attract more visitors to the country.

Under a pilot project, Air Niugini is promoting Madang as a major tourist destination and will eventually move to include other places as well.