Maori urged to embrace cultural tourism

Kapa haka performers pose for photographs before the Lions vs NZ Maori game in Hamilton last month. Picture / Amos Chapple

Maori are being urged to get out from behind the wheel of tour buses and to own tourism businesses instead.

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia encouraged more than 100 delegates at a two-day hui to ensure Maori were better represented in businesses catering to the booming cultural tourism market.

He told the hui that while research showed experiencing Maori culture was a key reason for tourists visiting New Zealand, they did not always receive an authentic product.

"For years many visitors leave Aotearoa thinking they have learned something special about Maori. Often they have. But too often this has taken place via non-Maori, and the way they tell our stories is different to the way we tell them."

However, while supportive of boosting Maori tourism, leading Rotorua businessman Mike Tamaki of Tamaki Tours said he had no interest in "yet another hui" and marketing body to "talk about issues" rather than providing what the industry actually needed.

Mr Tamaki, who did not attend the hui, said investing in global marketing and ensuring the reliability and quality of Maori operators was the key to success.

"Maori don't need more talking, they need to get smart."

He said operators needed to diversify their product, offering more than just a "dance and a feed".

Tamaki Tours succeeded through inspiration and passion, which could not be taught at a hui, he said.

Associate Tourism Minister Dover Samuels said he was disappointed by Mr Tamaki's criticism.

He said he had years of experience in the industry, and believed networking and promoting Maori enterprise was the key to growth.

"In the past it has just been a couple of operators, Kaikoura whale watch and the Tamaki brothers. We have been bus drivers for too long, we need to start owning the buses."

The hui, the first for the NZ Maori Tourism Council, is geared at promoting Maori operators, developing marketing initiatives and standardising more "authentic" product.

Recent tourism ministry research showed while 18,000 Maori worked in the sector, an increase of 72 per cent since 1991, they earned 14 per cent less than other workers.