March 22, 2017
Tairawhiti looks for a united cultural tourism approach
Better coordination is being held up as the key to improving returns for Maori in tourism in the Gisborne-East Coast region.
The Tairawhiti Regional Director at the Ministry of Maori Development, Mere Pohatu, says that’s something Te Puni Kokiri can help with.
She says a wananga on cultural tourism at the ministry yesterday was a chance to look at opportunities and challenges in the sector.
Many Maori operators work in tourism part time, and they need help turning activities like guided tours, hunting and fishing charters, hangi and kapa haka into money.
They also need a sense of where their manuhiri might go next.
"We know for instance we've got down one end at Ngati Pahauwera a whole lot of things going on there. In Waikaremoana we have a lot of whanau operating in there right up to Wharekahika at Hicks Bay but most of them actually don't know each other," she says.
Mere Pohatu says one of the biggest things Tairawhiti has going for it is the personality country folk bring to tourism.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH MERE POHATU
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