Tapoi Travel's Toni Davis and Luke McLeod. Photo / Supplied
Growing Māori tourism in Tauranga Moana could result in millions of dollars a year being retained in the local economy when international visitors return.
The Māori tourism industry was dealt a devastating blow when Covid-19 closed borders around the world, cutting off the majority of operators' revenue.
This was keenly felt in places with well-established Māori tourism markets including Rotorua and Northland and recent changes to alert levels continue to pose challenges.
But nearly five months since the country went into level 4 lockdown, the industry is rising from the ashes and looking at what the future holds.
In Tauranga, this means looking for opportunities to expand and grow, telling the city's unique stories in an authentic way.
Ngai Te Rangi chief executive Paora Stanley said this period had provided invaluable time to strategise and look at plans to grow.
"I think a lot of the Māori sector are working together to be able to respond to the demand when the whole industry picks back up.
"Because our Māori operators are small, they are a lot more nimble so while it has undoubtedly been a hard time, they have been able to work together to get through it.
"In this downtime the industry is experiencing, it gives us time to plan, prepare and innovate."
Stanley said there was huge potential to grow the industry in Tauranga but hotel space was a barrier.
"We can bring people in, but they have to go somewhere else to sleep. But of course, you can't build up more stock until you have the visitors to justify it. It's a chicken and egg situation.
"When we look at Māori investment, it's about creating an authentic experience for the domestic market and for international visitors when they return.
"We have a strong vested interest in the promotion of our culture because once that market is established in our area, the money stays in the community.
"It's good for local economy, it's good for local businesses and it's good for our country as a whole."
Stanley said Ngāi Te Rangi was investing in the sector as an iwi, working with Tourism Bay of Plenty to identify opportunities for growth.
He said high levels of visitors were moving through Tauranga pre-Covid, so if they could retain some of those numbers, millions of dollars would stay within the local economy.
"I love going to Rotorua, it's nearby and it's great to see our culture on display there but I want to see it on display here too.
"Cruise liners are not going to come back to Tauranga for a long time but the domestic tourism market is still available and so in the meantime, we can cater to that, while still developing a long-term plan for when international tourists return.
"We are blessed with the history we have in our backyard. The Battle of Gate Pā, for example, was one of the greatest battles the world has ever seen with the British being defeated by the sheer ingenuity of our people. That story could be told a lot better in an authentic way, in a museum."
Stanley said there was "magnificent potential" for local Māori stories to be told and now was the time to be bold and come up with ways to offer that.
Tourism Bay of Plenty chief executive Kristin Dunne said Tauranga Moana was a site of significant cultural heritage with special stories to share.
"Retail sales for Māori tourism businesses in Te Moana Nui ā Toi totalled $129m to the year ending 2017. This economic input into the region was created through 15 enterprises employing 342 people. The potential to develop Māori tourism businesses in Te Moana Nui ā Toi is extensive."
She said through the organisation's strategy, Te Hā Tāpoi | The Love of Tourism, "we engage with iwi and hapū to foster cultural tourism in Te Moananui ā Toi | the Coastal Bay of Plenty".
"This strategy was the culmination of years of research and community engagement, which identified the richness of the region's cultural tapestry and the opportunity to share it.
"Since 2018, TBOP has employed a kaihautū – Māori economy who works specifically with iwi and hapū to develop cultural tourism businesses. Through the support of iwi, TBOP has created a cultural tourism operator roopū (group) that are working together to build a collective market presence."
Dunne said Tourism Bay of Plenty's role in the establishment of more Māori tourism operators was to facilitate, support and encourage, "the development of product and how those organisations operate is outside of our control".
She said it was key Te Moananui ā Toi | the Coastal Bay of Plenty differentiated itself from Rotorua's Māori tourism offerings through the unique stories told and the type of cultural tourism product developed and promoted.
When asked how Covid had impacted plans for growing the industry, Dunne said it had "galvanised the cultural tourism roopū in Tauranga Moana".
"The pandemic reinforced the desire to work with each other, to build a Tauranga Moana cultural tourism proposition and to collaboratively promote the region. Covid-19 has confirmed the value of working together.
"The success of neighbouring Rotorua and its global reputation as the home of Māori tourism is testament to the power of this market."
Te Puke woman Toni Davis runs in-bound tourism company Tapoi Travel.
She said the business was 100 per cent reliant on international visitors so when borders closed, their numbers dropped to zero.
"It's not a bad thing to have all this time on our hands but what does the future look like?
"Right now, it's a good time to do some housekeeping for the business, we are really just at the mercy of when the world and the Government allow the borders to reopen and visitors start to come back."
Davis said 2019/20 was the Tapoi Travel's best year yet and future bookings were already ahead of budget in April.
"That's all gone now but it is what it is, you can't get too twisted up about it.
"Our position is that we are waiting at the moment. The reason for that is because we specialise in the luxury sector which represents about 5 per cent of the domestic market so it's not viable for us to even try."
However, speaking when the country was at alert level 1, Davis said Tapoi Travel had been asked to help with domestic corporate getaways.
"The revenue is small but it's something. I hadn't considered the corporate market up until this point so that is something we need to sit down and think about how it would work.
Being Māori-owned and operated, Tapoi Travel is about the value it gives to customers.
"My experience in the industry has been bigger companies where the focus has been on the bottom line, engineering experiences towards certain service providers where the commission is perhaps better. The focus is financial.
"So when I started Tapoi my aim was always to be 100 per cent client-focused.
"In addition to that, we aim to work with indigenous operators here and in Australia, as long as they can provide the experience our high-end customers are used to."
Davis said there was room to grow the Māori tourism industry in Tauranga.
"There would be demand. When I started Tapoi three years ago, I probably bought the most revenue into Tauranga than I have in my entire career, because I know there are some great opportunities there.
"Rotorua has always featured high on our itineraries but there are opportunities to grow in Tauranga. I would love to see more in Tauranga and here in Te Puke."
When asked what she thought the future held for the industry, Davis said it came down to Māori being inherently survivors.
"This is another period where we have to knuckle down, be resourceful, and be ready for when the customers come back.
"There's no giving up, it's not in our nature. Māori tourism in general, we are world leaders when it comes to indigenous tourism.
"The opportunity to come from this is how we carry ourselves and how we recover as an example for others. When the borders do reopen, this will be the place to come to. There will be a resurgence. That's a great opportunity for Māori operators to look at how we look after ourselves and our people and accommodate visitors."
New Zealand Māori Tourism's Kiri Atkinson-Crean told this newspaper Covid-19 had been tough on the industry, with many operators losing between 80 and 100 per cent of their business.
But she said since the initial hit, there had also been some exciting business developments.
"There was a lot of innovation and exciting change happening in Māori tourism before Covid struck and I think that's about the changing visitor.
"Those who will ultimately and eventually make the pilgrimage across the planet to New Zealand from our international market post-Covid, will likely be seeking deeper, richer, more intrinsic connection, with the whenua, moana, and the people of New Zealand.
"The Māori economy is different to what it was 20 years ago and those leading know tourism is a sector that can deliver employment goals for its people and is also an opportunity for our people to earn a living by essentially being themselves.
"That will become even more important going forward. It will be a case of being able to dig deeper, innovate, create and be resourceful."
Atkinson-Crean said an example of this was Tamaki Māori Village owner Tauhara North Tourism.
"It is really quiet about what it does but its ambitions for our people and area is really impressive.
"It sees Tamaki as being its employment strategy in many ways. It's response to Covid and borders closing was immediately about its people and that focus hasn't changed.
"Throughout this whole period, its entire focus has been about how they were going to protect its people, how they were going to keep them together and how they were going to create a business that will resonate and be relevant in the future of what tourism is going to be."
She said Māori tourism surviving the effects of Covid wasn't about "pivoting" businesses, rather looking at how they were positioned to deliver to the domestic market.
"What I've seen with operators is they've closed in, interrogated their business, looked at what their product is, the scale of their operation they've delivered previously then honed into and enriched delivery for core segments of the domestic market.
"Education is a really big one. How we deliver something in a meaningful way that resonates with our young people is the opportunity.
"New Zealand history will be a new curriculum requirement - pre-European Māori, European arrival, the richness of Maori culture in today's society and how all New Zealanders are a part of that story – I'd say Maori tourism is beautifully poised to deliver.
"We will look at how we deliver these - not to the scale we were used to of 600 people a night – but for lower cost structures and in more engaging, richer narratives that are a scalable model for 15 to 30 people.
"The cool thing about that is when our markets do start to return, Māori product will have adapted and become bespoke enough to be able to scale up and scale down."
