Woman selling
tomatoes, Woitape
Young dancer,
Tufi
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BOOKING
PROCEDURE
Published
tours or customised tour arrangements provided by Ecotourism Melanesia
may be booked and purchased through a travel agent or direct with
us.
Our tours generally include all land and air arrangements within
Papua New Guinea but do not include international airfares unless
by special arrangement.
To make enquiries or place bookings direct with Ecotourism Melanesia,
simply contact us by e-mail, fax or phone and we'll be delighted
to assist you. If we don't respond immediately to your e-mail, please
allow for the time difference between Papua New Guinea and your
country (PNG is in the same time zone as Eastern Australia and Guam).
Our office hours are 8am to 5pm local time, Monday to Saturday.
We also accept after-hours phone calls up till 10pm local time,
and on Sundays.
Tours may be booked up to 12 months in advance but we require payment
of a deposit in order to confirm bookings.
Contact
details:
Ecotourism
Melanesia Ltd
Section 69 Lot 12, Govea Street
Gordons, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
(Postal address: PO Box 531, Gordons PNG)
Phone and fax (+675) 323 4518 or (+675) 325 4860
E-mail ecomel(at)online.net.pg
[please substitute @ symbol for (at) above - we are trying to avoid
having our e-mail address harvested by spammers]
Correspondence and enquiries regarding tour bookings may be addressed
to The Inbound Tour Coordinator
Other correspondence may be addressed to The Managing Director
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Western Highlands
traditional garb
Kofure village
guest house, Tufi
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RATES AND
DISCOUNTS
The
prices of tours published on our website are rack (retail) rates.
Rack rates are the same whether you book through a travel agent
or direct with Ecotourism Melanesia. If you plan to purchase your
international air ticket through a travel agent in your home country,
you may find it convenient to pay for your PNG inbound tour arrangements
through the same travel agent. Your travel agent may be able to
offer you a better international fare if your ticket is sold in
conjunction with an inbound tour package.
Advance payment discount
We offer an advance payment discount of 5% on all our tours,
if your tour is paid for in full at least 6 months before the scheduled
commencement of your tour. Our standard cancellation policy (see
below) also applies to advance payment bookings.
Group discounts
Group discounts are not applicable to our published group tours
as these are already costed at group rates. For Kokoda Track treks
only (tour EM10), 10% discount off the rack rate is allowed for
groups of 4-7 people booking together and 15% discount is allowed
for groups of 8-10.
Other currency quotes
Most of our tours are priced in US dollars, but we can provide
a customised quote in the currency of your choice on request.
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Traditional mask,
Sepik River
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METHOD OF
PAYMENT
All
payments direct to Ecotourism Melanesia, including deposits, must
be deposited in our tour trust account in Papua New Guinea by bank-to-bank
transfer - also known as electronic transfer, wire transfer, telex
transfer (TT) or SWIFT transfer.
Some banks now allow you to do international transfers yourself
using internet banking, otherwise you will have to go in to your
branch to arrange the transaction. Our account details are stated
on your invoice.
Sorry we do not accept payments by credit card or checks.
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Men's spirit
house, Middle Sepik
Yam festival
dancer, Trobriand Is
Aussie visitors
at village guest house
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TERMS AND
CONDITIONS OF BOOKING
Payment
or part-payment of our invoice indicates your acceptance of the
terms and conditions specified here and on your invoice on your
own behalf and/or on behalf of clients or other persons you represent
who will be taking the tour or arrangements specified on the invoice.
Itemization
of costs
The cost of the tour, service or arrangements specified on your
invoice includes the overhead costs that we incur in planning, organizing
and monitoring your tour arrangements. Itemized breakdowns of tour
costings will not be provided.
Payment deadlines
For Weekend Getaways for local residents, the payment deadline
is 2 weeks before travel.
For Kokoda treks, the payment deadline is 8 weeks before the trek
commences.
For all other inbound tours full payment for your tour must be received
by Ecotourism Melanesia or your travel agent no later than 6 weeks
before commencement of your tour. Where the balance due is not received
by the due date, Ecotourism Melanesia reserves the right to auto-cancel
your arrangements without notice and automatically refund your deposit
less our administration fee of PGK200.
Cancellation
policy
If you cancel your tour prior to making full payment we will refund
the amount we have received for your deposit less PGK200 administration
fee.
If you cancel your tour or arrangements after having paid in full,
we will refund only 90% of the total amount we have received from
you.
If you cancel your tour or arrangemements after having paid in full
and less than 1 week (7 days) before scheduled commencement of your
tour or arrangements, we will refund only 50% of the amount we have
received from you.
If you cancel or abandon your tour or arrangements (or any part
thereof) less than 24 hours before scheduled commencement of your
tour, or after commencement of your tour or arrangements (for whatever
reason), no refund is available. (Your travel insurance policy may
reimburse you for such cancellation penalties under certain circumstances.)
NB Special cancellation provisions apply to Kokoda treks and Weekend
Getaway tours for local residents.
Processing
of refunds
Tour refunds, if applicable, are calculated based on the nett
funds we receive from you in local currency, cleared in our bank
account after all currency exchange and bank charges. We then subtract
our administration fee of PGK200, or 10% or 50% cancellation penalty
as the case may be, and convert the balance owing to you at our
bank selling rate back into the currency of origin.
Your refund is then remitted in the currency of origin by bank to
bank transfer to your nominated account, or by international bank
draft forwarded to your nominated mailing address. Your payment
of our invoice signifies your agreement to these terms.
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Midnight lobster
catch
Traditional face
tattoos and garb, Tufi
Biami novices
at initiation
Tufi fjords
European visitor
at Woitape
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GENERAL TERMS
AND CONDITIONS OF OUR TOURS AND SERVICES
Group quotations
Where a tour quotation is based on a stated number of people
in the tour party, the quotation is only valid for that number of
travellers. If one or more travellers withdraw from the tour party,
the price per person will be revised upwards in order to meet static
overhead costs and remaining members of the tour party will be required
to pay a surcharge. (This provision does not apply to Kokoda treks,
for which special conditions apply - see www.em.com.pg/PNG/kokodatrack/openkokodatreks.htm
).
Dispute
resolution
In the event of dispute, matters pertaining to your purchase of
tour arrangements from Ecotourism Melanesia will be arbitrated in
accordance with the laws of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
Kokoda treks
For Kokoda treks (tour EM10), the terms and conditions here must
be read in conjunction with the special booking conditions specified
at www.em.com.pg/PNG/kokodatrack/openkokodatreks.htm
and our Kokoda trekking contract. Please ask for copies of these
documents if you cannot access them on our website.
Travel insurance
It is a condition of booking a tour or trek with Ecotourism Melanesia
that you purchase a comprehensive travel insurance policy that will
cover you for:
- any cancellation penalties or other costs you may incur if you
are forced to cancel your tour for health reasons or other allowable
causes,
- lost baggage or personal items while travelling,
- emergency medical treatment including medical evacuation
- disrupted itinerary costs if there are forced changes to your
itinerary due to cancelled or delayed flights or other transport
due to bad weather, unserviceable aircraft/vehicles etc or other
unexpected circumstances which lie beyond your control or the control
of Ecotourism Melanesia or your travel agent.
Travel insurance can be purchased from any airline or travel office
and must be purchased in the country where you commence your travel.
Third level
airlines
Some "third level" airlines in PNG including Airlink,
MAF, North Coast Aviation and Islands Nationair are not members
of IATA (the International Air Transport Association) and are not
obliged by IATA conventions to provide overnight accommodation for
passengers when flights are cancelled or delayed, even after you
have checked in. Therefore if your tour involves travel on a third
level airlines in PNG you must be prepared to meet such extra costs
yourself and claim reimbursement from your travel insurer later.
Tour monitoring
Ecotourism Melanesia undertakes to plan, organise and monitor your
itinerary in a professional manner and ensure that all accommodation,
travel and tours are booked as stated in your itinerary. In the
event that your itinerary is disrupted due to delayed flights, bad
weather conditions or other local circumstances we will do our best
to rearrange your itinerary to enable you to continue your tour
with minimum inconvenience. However any additional costs incurred
in rearranging a disrupted itinerary will be borne by you and/or
your travel insurer. In case of disrupted itinerary or other problems
during your tour please contact us 24 hours a day on PNG phone numbers
323 4518, 325 4860 or 686 8917.
Issue of
air tickets
Ecotourism Melanesia is an inbound tour operator. We are not general
travel agents and we do not issue air tickets ourselves. All air
tickets included in your tour arrangements are purchased by Ecotourism
Melanesia on your behalf. By engaging us to arrange your tour, you
authorise us to purchase airline tickets issued in your name. However
any air tickets we purchase in your name cannot be refunded directly
to you by the airline, and any refund or reissue of sectors must
be authorised by our office.
No responsibility
Ecotourism Melanesia as an inbound tour operator takes no responsibility
for the provision of accommodation, meals, air travel, ground transport
or other services supplied by individual local suppliers (hotels,
guest houses, airlines, local transport operators and tour guides).
In the event that a local supplier fails on its part to provide
accommodation, travel, tours or other services as booked, we at
our sole discretion may provide a refund for the actual value of
this component of the tour, or the difference between this and an
alternative service provided if the value of the alternative service
is not higher than the value of the component of which the operator
has defaulted. In the event that accommodation, travel, tours or
other services are not provided as booked due to circumstances beyond
the control of Ecotourism Melanesia or the local operator (such
as bad weather, civil commotion, strikes, utility failure, unserviceable
aircraft) no refund will be given for this component of the tour
but you may be able to claim from your travel insurer any loss or
additional expenses you incur due to such misfortune. Ecotourism
Melanesia will be happy to provide written confirmation of emergent
events to assist you with claiming compensation from your insurer.
No liability
Clients travel at their own risk and Ecotourism Melanesia accepts
no responsibility for accident, injury or other misfortune occurring
during a tour booked through or operated by our company. Clients
are informed that medical and evacuation services may not be available
in some areas visited on your tour, and safety equipment and accessories
may not be supplied or fitted in boats and vehicles supplied by
local operators supplying transport for your tour arrangements.
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