PNG tourism wins PATA gold award

THE Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority (PNGTPA) has won a prestigious award at the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s (PATA) Gold Awards 2016.

PNGTPA took out the Gold Award for Marketing Media in the Public Relations Category for its photo exhibition staged at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington D.C and in New York city titled Papua New Guinea’s Past, Present and Future.

The event showcased rare black and white photographs of PNG never before seen in the United States. Additionally, the exhibit featured first-person stories from Papua New Guinea.

PATA described it as a unique social media project with over 24,000 PNG followers on FaceBook.

“Congratulations. I am delighted to advise you that your entry “Papua New Guinea's Past, Present, Future Photo Exhibit Event” in the Marketing Media - Public Relations Campaign category of the 2016 PATA Gold Awards has been voted by the judging panel as the PATA Gold Award 2016,” said PATA chief executive officer Mario Hardy.

“The judges were most impressed with the quality of your entry and, indeed, the overall high standard of entries submitted this year. You may be interested to know that this year’s awards attracted 212 entries from 71 organisations and individuals worldwide”.

PNGTPA marketing director Ms Alice Kuaningi who travelled to Jakarta, Indonesia for the PATA awards ceremony recently was very excited for PNG Tourism.

“PNG is uniquely placed with so much colour and contrast from the People, languages, traditions, cultures, flora and fauna and its marine biodiversity among others,” she said.

“The capturing of such images through photography, painting and video transforms ones thoughts of what a destination there is. PNG has got it - A million different journeys, a million different stories, captured in the past, present and future.”

Ms Kuaningi said PNGTPA’s numerous online programs undertaken overseas in our major markets, particularly in the United States, have attracted much attention from the media, trade partners and consumers.

“I am so excited to receive the award on behalf of PNGTPA and PNG. It is always rewarding to stand out amongst the many Asian and Pacific countries and be recognized for what an amazing country we are for travel and tourism.”

PATA said from a PR perspective, the PNG Photo Exhibition events generated positive press in 238 websites including PATA Conversations, Reuters.com and Boston.com with a potential audience of 21 million readers via social media and 30,000 consumers were reached directory through outlets such as Twitter, Instagram and FaceBook.