Culture & Tourism Minister Hon. Charles Abel signed the ADS agreement with his Chinese counterpart Mr Shao Qiwei in China last week. PNG Ambassador to China John Momis, Tourism Promotion Authority chief executive officer Peter Vincent, officials from the Chinese National Tourism Administration and the Chinese media also witnessed the signing ceremony.

Mr Abel, who returned on Tuesday, said the national government through TPA had been working on securing the ADS for more than three years.

“Approved Destination Status has only been granted to a select group of countries around the world after screening by the Chinese Government,” he said.

“It is an official authorization by the Chinese Government enabling group travel of Chinese citizens to a foreign country via a pre-selected group of travel agencies in China and the destination country.”

“Under the MOA, Papua New Guinea has undertaken certain conditions to facilitate the comfort and safety of visiting Chinese tourists.”

The Minister said that he had expressed his appreciation to the Chinese Government at the signing for recognition of PNG as a suitable travel destination for its citizens. 

Mr Abel commended Mr Vincent and staff of TPA for progressing this important step in our relationship with China adding that a lot of work remains to be done to capitalize on this opportunity as we must now be pro-active in presenting ourselves as a preferred destination for China.

“Whilst we welcome the Chinese and other foreign visitors to our shores, we want to ensure that they are indeed genuine tourists or holidaymakers and the money they spend here benefits our existing businesses and people as much as possible,” he said. 

The Minister said he was hoping that Air Niuigni will now look to have direct flights to Beijing and Shanghai in the near future to further capitalize on this opportunity given that China will be the number one source for outbound tourists in the next 5 – 10 years as it rapids grows towards being the top economic super power in the world.

While in China, Mr Abel also attended the Chinese International Travel Mart in Kunmin City, Yunan Province were over 2000 exhibitors were on display.

He said this was an eye-opener in terms of the range and quality of tourism products available in the world market today.

“We are competing in a sophisticated market and it is up to us to create a unique PNG brand and identity in this market place,” he said.

“We also have to continuously strive to raise our standards of service and awareness in the general public about tourism.”