Te Kapa Haka and Māori culture are a unique draw for international manuhiri. Photo / Alex Cairns, The Bay of Plenty Times
Te Kapa Haka and Māori culture are a unique draw for international manuhiri. Photo / Alex Cairns, The Bay of Plenty Times
A new survey of American travellers has revealed kapa haka leaves many tourists scratching their heads, and New Zealand’s cultural capital is well behind other tourism markets.
Tourism branding and marketing agency Distinctive Bat has singled out NZ as a country with one of the lowest rates of name recognition, in a recent study on American travel habits.
While 74 per cent of respondents correctly identified the “haka” from imagery, few knew where it originated. Shockingly, as many people thought the Māori challenge was from Japan as New Zealand (26 per cent).
Even images of the All Blacks wasn’t a big enough clue.
The survey of more than 1000 active travellers reveal that Aotearoa is off the radar of many Americans.
Compared to the Pyramid of Giza - the most readily identified tourist attraction in the United States survey, with near universal recognition - NZ could not compete, said Distinctive Bat.
The cultural symbols and flags were scored by correct identification minus misattribution.
While the haka was on par for recognition with images of giant pandas and kangaroos, the latter were far more successful shorthand as national emblems of China and Australia.
Distinctive Bat also polled in favour of a NZ flag referendum.
The marketing agency identified the national banner as Brand NZ’s weakest asset.
The Kiwi flag also caused widespread “confusion”, with 49 per cent misidentifying the flag as belonging to either Australia or the United Kingdom.
“While this is a known issue, with the failed flag referendums taking place less than 10 years ago, costing approximately $26 million and stirring extensive public debate, the implications will mostly affect the international tourism industry,” said the study.
The New Zealand flag lacks distinction in a crowded tourism market, says the survey.
The agency’s advice is to avoid ambiguous symbols or landscapes, or else risk “inadvertently promoting neighbouring countries.”
Places like Australia.
“The NZ tourism board would need to think twice if leaning too much into the flag in advertising as a branding device.”
These results bring mixed news for NZ Tourism.
Since the Covid tourism recovery roadmap, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has identified Māori tourism and culture as a key cornerstone to “promote high-quality, authentic visitor experiences that draw on NZ-Aotearoa’s unique visitor proposition of our people and our place”.
There’s clearly interest from international manuhiri and strong recognition for NZ’s culture as a unique selling point (USP). They just don’t know where it comes from.
