PNG wins tourism gold

PAPUA New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority has won two gold awards at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) 2013 Gold Awards held in Chengdu, China recently.

PNG won the two gold awards in the marketing category (primary government destination) and marketing media category for best website. The two gold awards were for an internet marketing concept developed by PNG TPA’s North American office as an online quiz titled “What Tribe Are You?”

In the first category, PATA judges were impressed by the large following the quiz attracted and the idea of using traditional and social media to create awareness of a destination. 

“Good use of various touch points to create awareness with a combination of traditional and social media. The campaign captured and tapped in to the distinctive brand personality of the culture and brought out its traits in photography,” the judges commented.

For the second gold category, judges said “The website was uniquely done and gave a feeling of great connection. It creates awareness and bonds the user to the site. Very enticing, inviting and informative.”

The website “What Tribe Are You” consists of a quiz of seven questions that North American users take to find what tribe in PNG to belong to. The website is an interactive and educational experience. Users have the ability to scroll over each question in order to learn more about each PNG topic. For instance, scrolling over the “Facial Tattoo” option reveals more about Tufi in Oro Province, home to the ornate facial tattooing traditions. As a reward, users were automatically entered into a sweepstake to win a trip to PNG.

PATA is the largest non-profit membership travel and tourism association dedicated to building responsible travel to the Pacific Asia region through promoting sustainable tourism practices.

TPA chief executive officer Peter Vincent said the gold awards were a great achievement for PNG despite the limited government funding for marketing and promoting PNG abroad.

The  Post Courier