April is usually the busiest time of year for the people who live along Papua New Guinea's Kokoda Track.

Key points: PNG residents along the Kokoda track rely on tourism for income

PNG residents along the Kokoda track rely on tourism for income All overseas Anzac commemorations have been cancelled to limit coronavirus spread

All overseas Anzac commemorations have been cancelled to limit coronavirus spread Local residents have told people who were going to trek this year to return next year

The 96-kilometre jungle path through the rugged Owen Stanley mountain range has an iconic place in Australian military history as the site of fierce fighting between Australian and Japanese troops during World War II.

Normally hundreds of Australian tourists would be there slogging it out ahead of Anzac Day dawn services, either at the picturesque memorial at Isurava on the northern end of the track, or at the Bomana War Cemetery just outside Port Moresby.

But not this year.

"This year it's not happening and it's a very sad thing for everyone," said Jack Deia, who runs a local trekking business.

The Bomana cemetery houses the remains of more than 3,000 Australian troops. ( Flickr: Arthur Chapman )

He said the April trekking season is the most important source of employment and business activity for the region.

"It brings in lots of tourists on the track and also in the villages, in their guesthouses, markets," he said.

"But now it's empty, the jungle is empty, no one is on the track and everyone is missing out."

The track is done single-file through treacherous, steep terrain. ( Flickr: Arthur Chapman )

Last month, the Federal Government announced all overseas Anzac Day ceremonies had been cancelled out of concern for the safety of Australian travellers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ceremonies in other iconic locations such as Gallipoli in Turkey and Villers-Bretonneux in France have also been called off.

'We must not let it go'

Annually, an Anzac Day service happens here at the Isurava Battlefield Memorial on the Kokoda trail. ( Flickr: Ben Webb )

In PNG, the Kokoda Track is the country's single biggest tourism drawcard.

The Kokoda Tour Operators Association fears some local and Australian trekking companies will not survive the loss of business.

The Kokoda track runs 96 kilometres in through rugged highland terrain. ( ABC News: Jarrod Fankhauser )

"There's no doubt that there will be tour operators that will fold," said the association's president Michael O'Malley.

"Hopefully some of the big ones will remain open … but the amount of trekking income has just ceased."

Mr Deia is asking Australians who had booked tours not to cancel them and instead postpone their trips until next year.

Mr Deia has called on those who were supposed to do the Kokoda trail in 2020 to return next year. ( Supplied: Jack Deia )

"We wish to see all of you back on the track again and we need this legacy, this Kokoda Track legacy to continue on," he said.

"We must not let it go."

There are those who will soldier on with their own Anzac Day ceremonies despite the cancellation of Australian government-run services.

The Rabaul Historical Society said it will still host a service at the cenotaph that sits amid the mounds of ash that buried much of the town during a volcanic eruption in 1994.

The society's secretary Susie McGrade said the timing has been moved from dawn to later in the morning and social distancing requirements will be in place.

"We put on a service during the eruptions … we're not going to not remember our diggers on April 25," she said.

Locals who assisted soldiers along the Kokoda trek were decorated for their work, including those pictured. ( Library of Congress / Australian Commonwealth photo )

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