The head of Papua New Guinea Tourism, Peter Vincent says the country can do a lot more to realise the potential of its tourism industry.
Figures released this month by the World Travel and Tourism Council show PNG is ranked last of 184 countries surveyed in terms of the economic benefits from tourism.
PNG holds only 10 per cent of the Pacific regional tourism market share by contrast to Fiji which holds an impressive 41 per cent.
An American tourist video tapes a performance during the annual sing-sing cultural festival in PNG in 2004. Photo: AFP
Mr Vincent admits the prevailing international image of PNG as a dangerous country remains damaging.
"Everybody in Papua New Guinea talks about the potential that tourism has in PNG. But we haven't really done enough to translate that potential into real terms. We have a lot of beautiful places. (Beforehand) when (overseas) people hear about it, they stay away from it, but when they actually come in and have a look at it themselves, they see that there are beautiful places, it's actually quite safe."
Peter Vincent says the government recognises the potential of tourism which should be helped by the current focus on addressing law and order problems.
