Kevin Nyango
PNGbooking.com, the first online website to easily, quickly and securely book all accomodation types in Port Moresby and all provinces of Papua New Guinea. Hotels, motels, lodges, guesthouses, transit houses, resorts and other accommodations.
It has always been an issue to book accomodations in Papua New Guinea, both for local travelers as well as foreigners. And with a fast growing industry, both from local and international travelers, some local entrepreneurs have just started to develop the first and only online platform in PNG to solve that problem.
From 105,000 international arrivals in 2007, PNG has received just under 200,000 international arrivals in 2017, mainly coming for Business, Tourism and Employment reasons in the country. With only a few accommodations bookable online in main towns such as Port Moresby, Lae and some others, Papua New Guinea has been waiting for a long time for a first unique and wide booking platform. The travel and tourism industry is already directly and indirectly about 2% of the whole PNG economy, a little bit more than 1 billion kinas in 2017. The forecast is also very positive, ranking PNG 48th above 185 countries for the 2017-2027 long-term growth, on the World Travel & Tourism Council last report.
The platform is now in its beta phase, with more than 300 subscribers already, and more than 1,500 followers on its Facebook page already (facebook.com/pngentrepreneuracademy).
“For local travelers in PNG, it is extremely frustrating to search and find affordable lodges and motels. And the problem is not because they aren’t enough lodges, motels and transit homes. The problem is that there is no information available in one place to search, find, compare and book accommodation in anywhere around PNG.” as explained Ian Hetri, the CEO of PNGbooking.com.
The first version of the platform is about to be released in August, including online payment capabilities with local banks and more than a hundred local accommodations. Ian Hetri, CEO of PNGbooking.com will also speak at one of the next APEC 2018 events in Port Moresby on Tuesday 14 August about challenges faced by local entrepreneurs in doing business in the digital space in Papua New Guinea.
