December 08, 2023
Māori tourism fast track to regional development
The chair of New Zealand Māori Tourism says continuing support to grow the sector should fit in with the new Government’s objectives to improve Māori outcomes.
Dale Stephens says operators are looking forward to their first full summer post-pandemic, although there is still a lag in bookings from China, which used to account for 40 percent of the sector.
He says his organisation is funded from vote Māori development, not vote tourism, so he’s briefed new minister Tama Pōtaka on prospects.
“We look at it from a much wider perspective. We know that tourism not only brings employment opportunities and money into households but it enables all our whānau across the motu to work in their takiwā and be able to benefit their rohe much better than simply creating business and work opportunities in cities, so Tama gets that,” Mr Stephens says.
He’s encouraging Minister Pōtaka to attend the World Indigenous Tourism Summit in Taiwan next April.