PAPUA New Guinea’s tourism authority has rejected the country’s new Green Fee on international travelers, saying it was introduced without consultation and risks weakening a sector still trying to recover and grow.
The Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority (PNGTPA) said the Climate Change and Development Authority collected about $PGK2.7 million in fees since October 2025, but no tourism projects had received funding.
PNGTPA said it had no role in designing or implementing the policy, despite being the statutory body responsible for tourism promotion and development.
Papua New Guinea recorded around 100,000 international visitor arrivals by air in 2025.
But PNG only charges international visitors an estimated $PGK50 upon departure and this is known as the Green Fee.
The authority said there had been no formal consultation, no tourism impact study, no agreed governance structure and no process for tourism operators to help manage or oversee the money collected.
PNGTPA chief executive Eric Mossman Uvovo said the agency supports environmental protection and sustainable tourism, but argued that the fee, in its current form, could hurt PNG’s competitiveness.
“PNGTPA was not consulted on the Green Fee policy and does not support the current mechanism in its present form,” Uvovo said.
“Papua New Guinea is already a relatively high-cost destination. Policies that directly impact visitor travel decisions should support, not hinder, our efforts to grow visitor arrivals, create jobs, and strengthen tourism’s contribution to the national economy.”
PNGTPA called on the national government to review the policy and consult tourism operators, airlines, hotels, provincial governments and business groups before proceeding.
The Green Fee was promoted as a funding source for climate and environmental work, but PNGTPA said visitor charges must be transparent, properly assessed and linked to clear outcomes if they are to win industry support.
