Papua New Guinea has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and just like other countries in the world, PNG has also recorded a huge drop in the tourism industry, employment and revenue in 2020.
The Chief Executive officer for the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority Mr Eric Mossman Uvovo revealed this at the 1st UPNG Professional Studies Tourism Seminar that took place today.
Mr Mossman said the impact of COVID-19 has been severe, affecting the number of tourists the country receives every year.
” PNG recorded a huge drop of 80% or 170, 000 less arrivals compared to the 210, 980 international arrivals received in 2019.”
” Holiday arrivals to the country fell by 87% in 2020 while business and employment related arrivals also dropped by a big margin during the same year.”
“Tourism revenue also declined by 80% or over K500 million loss in 2020 compared to an estimated revenue of K715 million generated in 2019.”
Mr Mossman further added the poor performance in tourist arrivals to the country was a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the arrival numbers are expected to pick up slowly in 2022.
Given the current situation with the pandemic, the Tourism Promotion Authority is focusing more on domestic tourism with a vision to improve the revenue numbers in the industry in 2022.